Travelogue for the Universe

Multiple arrests in protests targeting fossil fuel industry

WCAX

"The transportation of fracked gas and other fossil fuels is dangerous. ... to stop construction on Phase One of the Vermont Gas natural gas pipeline.

'Keep it in the ground' - Plattsburgh Press Republican

Activist groups protest transport of fracked gas - vtdigger.org

http://www.movementmusicrecords.com/#!the-fracking-album/cmuv

4 protesters arrested at Vt. Gas pipeline site

WCAX

Four protestors were arrested Tuesday morning after they stopped construction of the Vermont Gas pipeline. Avery Pittman, Grayson Flory, Martha ...

A letter from our rising tide friends:

Hi climate/human rights groups in Vermont (and the Northeast),

Wow! Would you look at those headlines? What an exciting day of action for a just livable planet yesterday in Vermont and New York. Check out the Rising Tide Vermont Facebook page for photos and follow the links below for some of the media coverage of the actions.

And remember - the action isn't over until everyone is out of court/jail, so please donate to the legal fund (http://bit.ly/1GjgsNv) if you can.

Democracy Now "9 Arrested in Anti-Fracking Actions in Vermont, New York"

http://www.democracynow.org/2015/7/8/headlines#7811

Burlington Free Press - "Fossil-fuel Protests Span Champlain Valley"

http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/story/news/2015/07/07/two-chained-together-at-vt-gas-site/29805609/

Plattsburgh Press Republican - "Keep it in the Ground" fairly extensive article focused on the oil trains action -

http://www.pressrepublican.com/news/keep-it-in-the-ground/article_9385e34a-24cb-11e5-aaf0-435bbef2239d.html

New England Cable News "Activists Halt Construction, Block Truck, Line Railroad Track, in Fossil Fuel Protests"

http://www.necn.com/news/new-england/Activists-Halt-Construction-Block-Truck-Line-Railroad-Track-in-Fossil-Fuel-Protests-312287451.html

WPTZ- "9 Arrested in Separate Protests Against Transporting Crude Oil"

http://www.wptz.com/news/9-arrested-in-separate-protests-against-transporting crude-oil/34041868

WCAX - "4 Protesters Arrested at VT Gas Pipeline Site" lots of focus on the gas truck action and they really picked up on the "day of action" theme.

http://www.wcax.com/story/29492011/4-protesters-arrested-at-vt-gas-pipeline-site

VTDigger - "Activist Groups Protest Transport of Fracked Gas"

http://vtdigger.org/2015/07/07/activist-groups-protest-transport-of-fracked-gas/

Please pass this on to any networks who might be inspired by this coordinated and escalated day of resistance!

Onwards,

Anna Rose for the media team

P.S. Please chip in to the legal fund if you can! http://bit.ly/1GjgsNv

Saturday, July 11, 2015

Amy Helm Debut Album available for Preorder

We were pleasantly surprised to hear Amy Helm's Debut album.
Really special music, spanning a wide range of emotions, stories, tempos.
Check her website to order...

amyhelm.com

Here's a link from youtube,
So special!

Friday, July 10, 2015

Friday Night Musik

Friday Night Musik
Oh, I have to post this link...

And Happy Birthday to Mom...we miss you.

Thursday, July 9, 2015

Link to Great Music

Fred's favorite

Another great video from these great people. Teresa Williams, et al...

More about Larry Campbell and Buy their album:

larrycampbellmusic.net

Wednesday, July 8, 2015

Fragile Water

Lake Champlain

We took pictures from the Spirit of Ethan Allen.
It was a perfect day.

Tuesday, July 7, 2015

The heavy hand of Vermont property taxation

Stuck in the Google machine
Searching for answers
Vermont property taxation
Voting rights
Property rights
Over and
Over.

Here's a good one from town website 2013...

http://monktonvt.com/2013/09/26/taxes-increase/

Fast forward to this year's re-vote after a failed vote at town meeting day:

http://monktonvt.com/2015/05/26/anesu-revote-warning-and-sample-ballot/

meg...counting on my fingers...17 day notice
i was told no time to get out the absentee ballots
so what can a person really do to change this?

The Vermont Secretary of State has this for guidelines.
They don't enforce this...
https://www.sec.state.vt.us/elections/town-meeting-local-elections/local-petitions.aspx

If you read all that, let me know, I'll feed you some more.
~~XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX~~

it's no wonder i had this dream,
my front door,
me, a child,
we are all children at heart,
the power gradient,
unbalanced. meg

Monday, July 6, 2015

Comic relief

Comic relief

(Used photo comics pro)

Sunday, July 5, 2015

Essential Musik

Essential

Musik

Larry Campbell and Teresa Williams

Have completed their first "them" album album,

And, yes, it is as perfect as music gets,

or musik, for that matter.

Check out this video, then go to Larrycampbellmusic.net

And buy some...

Saturday, July 4, 2015

Gaz Update for Independence Day US

fitting topic for independence day (u.s)

The proposed pipeline people/corporation are/is facing opposition

I save up the updates until there are a few.

Here is the latest, most recent appear first.

First, Buy this #Fracking album:

Natalie Merchant et al...

from VT Digger...Addison Independent

Regulator rethinking gas pipeline

Posted on June 25, 2015 |

Addison County

pipeline

By Erin Mansfield Vt Digger

MONTPELIER — Opponents of Vermont Gas Systems natural gas pipeline said Tuesday that the expensive project is no longer necessary because technological advances have obviated the need for the product.

The comments came as the Vermont Public Service Board on Monday and Tuesday held technical hearings on whether to revoke the permit it granted to Vermont Gas for a 41-mile natural gas pipeline from Colchester to Middlebury. The hearings were called to reconsider the Phase 1 permits due to significant cost increases.

Witnesses who testified against Vermont Gas said cold climate heat pumps are an efficient alternative heating source, home heating oil prices are low, and NG Advantage can send natural gas on tractor-trailer trucks to industrial customers who still want the gas.

The Public Service Board argued in October that an economic boost was one of the main benefits of the pipeline.

Vermont Gas put its top executives on the witness stand during the first day of hearing Monday. On Tuesday public advocates brought in witnesses who criticized both the pipeline extension project and the calculations that the company has used to justify the efficacy of the pipeline.

The price when the Public Service Board approved the project on Dec. 23, 2013, was $86.6 million. The new cost estimate stands at $153.6 million to build the transmission pipeline — not including distribution costs that the company said Monday would be $5.8 million plus $1,600 per new customer.

Vermont Gas started construction between Colchester and Middlebury last summer, just months before the first price increase was announced. About six miles have been completed in Chittenden County, according to the company’s April cost update report, and $61.5 million of the budget has been spent.

From here, the quasi-judicial Public Service Board can issue an order to keep the project going, or make the company re-argue for its state permit, called a certificate of public good. In October, the board went through an identical series of hearings but ultimately decided the project was still a benefit to the public. This week, they appeared to be more skeptical.

“I’m pleased that we had the chance to present our case,” said Vermont Gas President and CEO Don Rendall. “We’ll proceed in accordance with the board’s order when the order comes out. We’re presenting the facts as they are and doing it in as open, direct and transparent way as we can.

“I’m confident that our estimate is reliable,” Rendall said. “I’m confident that it was estimated as effectively as it could be.”

Bristol attorney Jim Dumont, who represents AARP and Kristin Lyons, pressed the Public Service Department on several points. The department’s job is to represent the public interest in utility cases, and the department disagreed with Dumont’s arguments that alternative energy sources are more cost-effective than natural gas service.

Natural gas distribution, Dumont argued, only has about a 25 percent cost advantage over a cold-climate heat pump. He argued that industrial customers don’t need natural gas through a pipe because they can get it trucked in by NG Advantage.

James Volz, the chair of the Public Service Board, also pressed on compressed natural gas — the type of gas service that is being trucked to a so-called gas island in Middlebury for customers including Agri-Mark’s Cabot cheese plant.

Volz said the board should consider the gas island and natural gas infrastructure as a “sunk cost” that companies won’t get their money back from whether the pipeline is built or not.

Asa Hopkins, the director of energy and policy planning for the Public Service Department, said the efficiency of cold-climate heat pumps depends a lot on how people use them and various weather conditions, among other things.

Hopkins said he did not change his methods to account for compressed natural gas because it was an unjustified, much more sweeping change to the economic modeling than changing fuel prices or costs.

Hopkins was the sole witness representing the Public Service Department, and he reiterated the department’s position that the project is still in the public good. “There is no call for a re-opened proceeding,” he said.

Reached by phone, Chris Recchia, commissioner of the Public Service Department, said that the department used numbers from the U.S. Energy Information Administration that are “the most credible numbers allowable.”

“All modeling is a matter of what assumptions you use, and we think we’ve used some very credible assumptions,” Recchia said. “[Hopkins] didn’t have a particular objective to come to a particular conclusion.”

HEAVY-HITTING ECONOMIST

David Dismukes, an economist from Louisiana State University, was Tuesday’s major witness. AARP flew him to Vermont to defended his economic modeling, which projects up to $200 million in lost economic activity and 3,650 lost jobs across Vermont over a 70-year period.

Dismukes’ low-ball numbers were about $100 million in lost economic activity and 1,500 lost jobs across Vermont in a 20-year period. He also told the board that regulators need to address risk that utility companies put on ratepayers during capital projects like pipelines.

“Their shareholders are going to be the ones who make that money,” Dismukes said of Vermont Gas’ profits. “The ratepayers are going to be the ones who pay for it. … The key to this is who bears the risk in all this.”

Hopkins, a physicist who serves as an energy planner for the Public Service Department, analyzed parts of Dismukes’ analysis during his own testimony. Hopkins said Dismukes had valuable insight but overestimated employment losses.

“His analysis assumes some continuing job loss through time, as does ours, and I think it is actually appropriate to recognize that ongoing effect,” Hopkins said. “The main difference as I see it … is in the question of the overall scale and whether the results meet with a common-sense test in terms of the size of the impact.”

Dismukes said the economy would lose job opportunities to a pipeline that delivers fuel instead of delivery truck drivers.

“I like to characterize them more as ‘employment opportunities’ as opposed to ‘jobs,’” Dismukes said. “If my business goes down for five years, there are fewer employment opportunities for five years.”

Lawyers for Vermont Gas, whose experts used different modeling that projects a net benefit from the $153.6 million project, also questioned Dismukes. They said Dismukes didn’t account for delivery drivers finding new jobs.

More links/articles:

New Report: EPA's Clean Power Plan Will Not Cause a Significant Increase in Natural Gas ...

PR Newswire (press release)

The analysis shows that additional natural gas pipeline expenditures under the CPP would be modest: 3% to 7% more than currently planned through ...

PSB takes another look at Vermont Gas pipeline project

Bennington Banner (subscription)

The board has the power to halt the pipeline construction. ... He said economic benefit is not the right reason to approve a natural gas pipeline, but he ...

compatriot notes:
"We also believe the natural gas pipeline project will help stimulate the economy in Vermont and enhance the state’s ability to attract new business and jobs to the area." PROVE IT! What has Cabot done with their fuel cost savings?

Robert Wellington: Agri-Mark supports gas pipeline

http://marcellusdrilling.com/2015/05/vermont-wackos-including-aarp-oppose-43-mile-natgas-pipeline/

Agri-Mark Dairy Cooperative and its family farm members strongly support the extension of the natural gas pipeline from Chittenden County to ...

My notes: Farmers dumping milk to sustain prices, Oh and Cabot isn't a Vermont company anymore.

Next, an article that caught the eye of us Vermont "Wackos" ? :)

You can't view comments.
I commented: see below...
Mary Gerdt

Good start on your pr campaign. No to fracking is how Monkton,Vermont voted. My fight is over land rights, Canadian owned utility monopoly in Vermont, a short sighted Vermont public service board And selectmen, limited service offered with maximum environmental risk, $150+ million price for 3000 hookups (other ratepayers pay-many elderly). Oh, the original proposal said IP in NY would pay $40 Million. No more. Call us names, tear apart our arguments against high Pressure nG Transmission lines when pipefitters on crack were Caught in northern Vermont. We value our beautiful pristine state. With nG prices rising, the urgency To build a pipeline (which is secretly headed to big cities like NYC) is clear. Hopefully It will never happen.

BTW, I found the articles by searching for Vermont Wackos.

They were 1 and 2 on the google search.

#2) http://naturalgasnow.org/trendy-old-vermont-wackos-oppose-pipeline/

From the Digger:

Vermont Gas chief: Unsure of path forward on pipeline

Bennington Banner (subscription)

MONTPELIER (AP) >> The head of Vermont Gas Systems says the company will wait to see if the state Public Service Board reopens its review of a ...

From UK:

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-lancashire-33313084

Don't get dizzy and pardon any duplicates as you peruse this collection:

Regulators launch Vermont Gas pipeline hearing

MONTPELIER – Many questions to Vermont Gas Systems executives from the Public Service Board on Monday morning centered on one theme: Why ...

Regulators Seek Answers On Vermont Gas Cost Overruns - Vermont Public Radio

Vt. PSB holds gas pipeline hearings - WCAX

Vermont regulators take new look at gas pipeline - Washington Times

Vt. PSB holds gas pipeline hearings

WCAX

The 43-mile pipeline would run from Chittenden County to Middlebury. ... Rendall maintains natural gas is safe and cheaper than oil or propane.

Vermont regulators take new look at gas pipeline - SFGate

Vermont Gas proposed pipeline hearing draws large crowd

The Public Service Board hosted the first day of hearings for the Vermont Gas' proposed $154 million natural gas pipeline on Monday, June 22.

PSB takes another look at Vermont Gas pipeline project - vtdigger.org

Proposed pipeline hearing draws large crowd - WPTZ The Champlain Valley

PSB takes another look at Vermont Gas pipeline project

Vermont Gas proposed pipeline hearing draws large crowd - WPTZ The Champlain Valley

Witnesses for Vermont Gas Systems faced detailed questions on the first day of hearings that will determine whether the state should reopen the ...

Vermont regulators take new look at gas pipeline - Chron.com

Proposed pipeline hearing draws large crowd - WPTZ The Champlain Valley

Share “Vermont regulators take new look at gas...”

NewsOK.com

MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — The president of Vermont Gas Systems told ... cost forecast for a pipeline expansion in western Vermont is accurate now, even ... tremendous expense of the continued reliance on natural gas," said Sandra ...

My Champlain Valley FOX44 & ABC22

Protestors: "We Don't Want Your Pipeline"

My Champlain Valley FOX44 & ABC22

Board members weighed the benefits of the fracked gas pipeline. ... “Natural gas is less expensive than heating oil and propane and our customers ...

Protestors: "We Don't Want Your Pipeline" - My Champlain Valley FOX44 & ABC22

Vermont regulators take new look at gas pipeline

WRAL.com

MONTPELIER, Vt. — The president of Vermont Gas Systems told skeptical state regulators Monday that the current cost forecast for a pipeline ...

Full Coverage

PSB takes another look at Vermont Gas pipeline project
by Erin Mansfield
The first day of a two-day quasi-judicial hearing into the merits of a natural gas pipeline expansion focuses on the company’s economic modeling.
Continue reading...

Share “Vermont Gas chief: Unsure of path forward...”

NewsOK.com

MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — The head of Vermont Gas Systems says the company will wait to see if the state Public Service Board reopens its review a ...

Vermont Gas System's Looking Forward to the Expansion of Its Phase I Pipelines - TopNews United States

Vermont Gas chief: Unsure of path forward on pipeline

WRGB

WRGB

LIVE: Day two of Vermont Gas hearing in front of Public Service Board

Watch the second day of a Vermont Gas hearing in front of the Public Service Board, including testimony from land owners and other opponents to the ...

MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) -- The head of Vermont Gas Systems says the company will wait to see if the state Public Service Board reopens its review a ...

VT Gas now awaits pipeline decision

MONTPELIER – On the second day of a Public Service Board hearing to determine the fate of the proposed expansion of the Vermont Gas pipeline ...

Vermont regulators take new look at gas pipeline

Rutland Herald

“These hearings show the tremendous expense of the continued reliance on natural gas,” said Sandra Levine, a senior attorney with the Conservation ...

PSB takes another look at Vermont Gas pipeline project

Brattleboro Reformer

MONTPELIER >> Witnesses for Vermont Gas Systems faced detailed ... a natural gas pipeline, but he looked into the numbers from Vermont Gas and ...

Protested,Vermont Gas Systems' proposed gas pipeline

Rutland Herald

MONTPELIER — More than 100 people gathered to protest Vermont Gas Systems' proposed gas pipeline at evidentiary hearings early this week.

Flag as irrelevant

Give Vermonters natural gas option

Rutland Herald

In Vermont, natural gas is also regulated, and rates are set by the Public Service Board. If that were true for oil and propane companies, they might not ...

Energy future is Canadian - Rutland Herald

Opponents make case for alternatives to gas pipeline

Youth climate change delegates bicycling 10000 km from Vremont to UN Climate Conference

Opponents of the Vermont Gas Systems natural gas pipeline said Tuesday that the expensive project is no longer necessary because technological ...

I live in Vremont.

CNN