Sunday, January 31, 2016

Images




for the last day of January 2016,
bizarre weather,
bizarre images,
welcome February.

Friday, January 29, 2016

Protesters try to stall pipeline expansion

Protesters try to stall pipeline expansion: Despite approval from state regulators, opponents are still trying to block a natural gas pipeline project.

Friday Night Musik! Guy Forsyth Blues Band "Don't Stand Still (Snakeboy's Lament)" live on t...

This Land is My Land, Not a #fracking crib for (un) natural gaz

For educational purposes:


In November, Attorney General Maura Healey released a study that concluded additional natural gas pipeline capacity is not the best solution to meet the state’s long-term energy demand needs.

Grid operator flags pipeline constraints, growing role of renewables

Photo: Thinkstock
BOSTON, JAN. 26, 2016….With New England increasingly dependent on natural gas and the region moving to a “hybrid fleet” featuring more renewable power generators, power prices and system reliability are directly tied into the ability to move lower-priced gas supplies through pipelines and into the region, according to grid operators who provided an annual overview of the system on Tuesday.
Gordon van Welie, president and chief executive officer of ISO New England Inc., told reporters during a “State of the Grid” conference call that natural gas-fired power plants produced 49 percent of the electricity generated in New England in 2015, but the system is stuck in a “precarious position” in the wintertime when demand for natural gas rises for both power plants and residential home heating.
With Beacon Hill lawmakers gearing up for a major energy policy debate, van Welie clarified that ISO New England does not favor any fuel or technology or transmission or pipeline project, does not buy or sell electricity and has no financial connection to the natural gas industry.
In part due to the production of natural gas from the Marcellus Shale, New England can take advantage of wholesale energy prices that are competitive with other states if they are able to address pipeline constraint issues, he said. But under current conditions, prices rise and the system is constrained for 30 to 50 days per year when temperatures dip into the teens or lower, he said, noting there have been “hardly any issues” in recent weeks marked by mild temperatures.
“No one can predict what the weather will be in the long run,” van Welie said, adding that natural gas-fired power generation is also required to ensure “fast and flexible” energy and grid reliability as system operators learn more about the reliability of wind and solar sources that are growing in popularity.
“The generation fleet is shifting to a hybrid fleet from a system based almost entirely on large-scale oil, coal, and nuclear generators located near large population centers,” van Welie said. “This hybrid grid will continue to include large generators, but they will be mostly natural gas power plants located near large population centers and wind facilities in remote locations. Increasingly, our resource mix will include distributed generation, such as solar panels located at customers’ sites, and resources that reduce demand, such as energy efficiency measures and companies that can lower their power usage when needed.”
Oil and coal plants are retiring “in large numbers,” van Welie said, but still play an important role during peak demand periods in the winter. He said natural gas and wind energy would replace retiring plants and discussed the need for transmission improvements to pull wind and hydro power from sources in northern New England and in Canada and deliver it to more populated areas in southern New England.
Natural gas pipeline projects have run into resistance from residents along the proposed routes, elected officials and environmental groups. Asked about his confidence level that projects will get approved, van Welie said it’s hard to gauge which ones will make it through siting and contractual hurdles. “I think something will come to fruition,” he said.
Investors and market-based competition are working to fill gaps in power demand and a pay-for-performance system going into effect in 2018 will further mitigate reliability risks, van Welie said.
In November, Attorney General Maura Healey released a study that concluded additional natural gas pipeline capacity is not the best solution to meet the state’s long-term energy demand needs.
Healey, whose report puts her at odds with Gov. Charlie Baker’s desire to increase natural gas capacity, said that while new pipeline capacity would have consumer price benefits, it would also carry significant up-front costs with risks for ratepayers of long-term commitments to pay for new infrastructure. The study, funded with grants from the Barr Foundation and the John Merck Fund, demonstrated “that a much more cost-effective solution is to embrace energy efficiency and demand response programs that protect ratepayers and significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” she said.
New England’s power system features 350 generators and 31,000 megawatts of generating capacity, including 15,000 megawatts of generation added since 1997. The system’s all-time peak demand was 28,130 megawatts on Aug. 2, 2006. About 80 percent of the generation capacity added since 1997 runs on natural gas and 65 percent of all proposed new generation would use natural gas.
Other points raised by van Welie during the conference call:
— State policy requirements are also driving up the demand for wind and solar power, and energy efficiency improvements are driving down peak demand power levels.
— The need for natural gas supplies will not be offset by hydropower coming down from Canada, although that new source of power would help. It’s “important,” van Welie said, to ensure that hydropower will be available to New England when the system needs it.
— Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant in Plymouth, which last year announced its plans to close, “was driven out of the market by low natural gas prices.”
— While most solar power is based on “behind the meter” sites off the grid, the grid overseers are seeing an aggregate effect on the power system during daylight hours, van Welie said.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Wish I was at this human chain that happened yesterday. Looked well attended.

(I wanted to post a link to the video but the tv station didn't post it)

A Call to join with landowners:
I ask you all to consider what it would be like if a giant corporation came knocking at your door, informing you that you had to acquiesce to them cutting down your trees and creating a 50 foot wide swath through your land...land that used to be forest and pasture, so they can put in their pipeline to carry fracked gas through it, so they can make more profit and create the need for more fracked gas.
Add to this, your fear of gas explosions, and the prospect that you will no longer ever feel safe in your home of more than 20 years again. Imagine that you politely declined their offer but that makes no difference to this giant corporation or our own government because the government has decided this pipeline that perpetuates and expands the need for fracked gas is actually good for Vermont and Vermonters.
Such is the fate of several Monkton residents and if you thought you might get involved but were waiting for the right time, the time is this Thursday, January 28.



All I could do was sit in my chair and type my heart out. meg

Fracking Pipeline

My heart is with the few targeted property owners who oppose the pipeline And are defending their Property Rights. Since when did the town start giving the go ahead permission for permits before the applicant has the right to be there? How can one or two selectmen, a governor, a newspaper, a paper mill, the PSB (Gods) and a college just decide...there, there, that's the route we are giving the Canadian energy monopoly. Landowners be damned. Landowners lawyer up (oh, that is mean...expensive...Singularly painful). I try to keep updates on my blog listed under Fracking http://traveloguefortheuniverse.blogspot.com
I also have a lot under Vermont property taxes, Get used to it, people. You do not own anything, all of you. You rent from the town and state who have the power to make your life very complicated. If you all stand by when the PSB process tries to pull another land grab for big power, then you too may be subject to the same oppression.

Thursday, January 28, 2016

Wednesday, January 27, 2016

Modern Life


I can't explain the images that appear on the paper.
Just fun to see how the ink lands.
Modern Life

Monday, January 25, 2016

Winter Light

the snow reflects the light, the clouds, mountains, all play together, the air fresh,
the pipeliners ready to cut a path through this area,
it's just wrong

Sunday, January 24, 2016

#Snowmageddon 2016

Snowmageddon...2016

Vermont was entirely spared,
We have a little snow left from last week.





Points south, however, were really getting hit hard...
Be safe.



Saturday, January 23, 2016

Because




I started following Boogs Malone on twitter,
This video caught my eye...
Watching it, made me think, remember, think, imagine.
As the big storm rakes the East coast of the U.S.
Vermont is cold and quiet
Watch this video,
Because.
meg

Friday, January 22, 2016

Friday Night Musik


There were so many songs
running through my brain.
Pick one, I said.

Desperado.
Rest in Peace, Glen Frey

Thursday, January 21, 2016

Bad Vibrations



When I moved to Vermont 35 years ago,
it was the Green Mountains that drew me in,
anchored me,
gave me a direction.

Before you know it,
They want to Pave Paradise,
And Put up a Parking Lot
For Wind Turbines, and
Solar Fields of Mirrors surrounded by chain link fencing.

The Vermont Public Service board, PSB, "They" say, go ahead,
put ugliness everywhere, wind mills along the spine of the green mountains of Vermont.The ugly wind mills cause health problems, property depreciation, dead birds.
The same handful of PSB deciders decided the now $150+ million fracking pipeline
 was good for Vemonters who will pay for it.
(the original purpose was for the pipeline to go to New York, under Lake Champlain. The paper mill decided costs were to great. Funny, many of us citizens opposed, spoke out. We were not counted)






Addendum...

An Article by the Governor...



My comment:
The Governor is a scattered thinker, unfortunately. He talks about his farm, his burning brush, as if it is as natural as the driven snow. Addison County has burning police for that outlawed activity. He talks about renewables, fossils, coal, wind. He effectively killed nuclear, our reliable little plant that cushioned our electricity needs, oh, and it’s by his little brush farm.by his friends. Now, his other friends, Canadians, want Vermont as their own little money tree that could. Like a fairy, a Canadian monopoly was born. Each company slyly maintaining their own name. Green mountain power, Vermont Gas. The fairy pointed to the lake, mountain and valleys. Poof. Windmills on the spine of the green mountains, Valleys: Solar mirror fields,Gas pipelines the length of the state, and a big power line running the length of Lake Champlain. While the brush fire smoke blows out to sea. The Governor is proud, Landowners broke, forlorn, robbed, tourists Photoshop the windmills out…how it used to look. As I struggle to pay ever rising taxes on our fallow farm so the town won’t sell it for taxes, I am compelled to tell the future to my grandchildren. The Bad Vibrations started in 2016 or so. They drove people mad, or sick. They drove people out. Oil prices dropped like a stone but we were forced to buy outlawed fracked gas from carpetbaggers. Oh, and with divestment, I lost my state disability, retirement pension. Off to the cinder block high rise. That’s how Grandma and Grandpa lost the farm.

Tuesday, January 19, 2016

#fracking Gaz updates or how Vermont gave away the lands

The latest updates

I would be lying if I said this is good news, for anybody,

all I can do is post links to local press, and what our Stop the Pipeline group sends.
================================================

Recchia “I’m sorry they didn’t get the result they want but that doesn’t mean the process is broken,” he said.

Since 2013, Vermont Gas System's planned 41-mile pipeline from Chittenden County to Middlebury has seen its price tag increase from $86 million to ...
Ok, let's back up...
Thanks, Meredith Angwin for clarifying, The "New, New, New Energy Plan"



Thanks for wading through the imprecise ramblings of a clearly superior race. Attorneys without boundaries. Someone profits. No doubt.
Everyone everywhere must comment.
New Hampshire under seige from the south.
If there ever is a shift in policy, all the dissenting comments will be transparent as glass.
Unlike the muddy, ever shifty rationalizations of the psb.
Mary Gerdt


On January 16, 2016, at 9:12 AM, Barbara Wilson wrote:

Hi all:
I haven't read the entire report - I jumped to the "Recommendations and Conclusion" sections only:

"While we do not recommend specific structural changes, we do believe that internal
changes could be implemented to provide greater transparency to the public of why the
Department takes specific positions."

"As this report makes clear, there is no one structural model that is optimal, and each model
has tradeoffs. We have not proposed specific reforms as we do not believe that there is an
inherently better model for Vermont ratepayers. This does not mean that there is not room for
improvement; while some of the comments received stem largely from the particular positions
that the Department takes in Board proceedings, there is also a clear indication that the
Department should do better in conveying the rationale for why the Department has taken a
particular position. In the complexities of weighing the "public interest" in a given proceeding,
we believe any advocate should be accountable to the elected officials and the legislative body,
and we believe the Department structure as it exists can and should accomplish this
responsibility in an informed and transparent manner, which, while not pleasing to everyone all
of the time, can stand on its analysis and relate credibly to all those who express interest."

No surprises here. The bottom line: We (the DPS) know better than the public what is good for Vermont and possibly we need to educate people better on why we are making the decisions that we (the DPS) do. I am thinking that they only way to respond to this is for a lot of Vermonters to send letters to their state representatives. Providing comments to DPS is useless in my mind. Thoughts?

Barb

-------- Forwarded Message --------
Subject: Report on Ratepayer Advocate Structures
Date: Fri, 15 Jan 2016 21:24:32 +0000
From: Valentinetti, Angela
To: Jortner, Wayne


For your information, the draft report has been completed and can be found on our website at: http://publicservice.vermont.gov/publications/advocate_report.
Angela Valentinetti | Legal Assistant
Vermont Public Service Department
Public Advocacy Division
112 State Street
Montpelier, VT 05620-2601
=====================================================================

Note especially the 3rd paragraph.
"Dear Barbara,
Thank you for writing to me about Vermont Gas Systems' natural gas expansion project in Addison County.
I believe that climate change is one of, if not the, greatest challenges we face as a society, and it is crucial that Vermont continue our leadership on this issue. To this end, Vermont recently signed an agreement with five other Northeast and Mid-Atlantic to work together to develop market-based policies to further the reductions in greenhouse gas emissions we have already seen from the success of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). Furthermore, in my State of the State address, I urged the Legislature to send me a bill that divests state funds from coal companies and ExxonMobil. Owning stock in these companies is not a business Vermont, should be in any longer.
I also believe we also need more smartly-sited renewables to power Vermont and help secure our energy future. I believe we should continue to build renewables on a Vermont scale, and we should give an economic advantage for locating solar on rooftops, brownfields, landfills, and other already developed lands where we currently have transmission capacity. Homegrown is Vermont's energy future.
With regards to the expansion of natural gas service to Addison County, the Public Service Board has extensively reviewed the environmental and economic aspects of the project and determined that it should go forward. I agree with the Board's decision and appreciate their thorough review and analysis.
Thank you again for your message. I believe that if we work together, we can effect meaningful change on climate issues, and I will keep your letter in mind as I work with the Legislature to achieve our energy goals. Please don't hesitate to reach out if I can be of assistance in the future.
Sincerely,
Peter ShumlinGovernor109 State Street, PavilionMontpelier, Vermont 05609"
========================================================================

This was a damn sad day for the fracking, pipeline opponent.
=====================================================================
My brave neighbor submitted this letter in response:
Ms. Hollenbeck implies that only landowners and environmental activists agree it’s irrational to continue unnecessary pipeline expansion. The PSB received thousands of public comments on VGS’ application. 95% were negative. Last year, International Paper, for whom the pipe was upgraded at significant cost to consumers, balked at VGS’s new price; the project no longer made business sense. Last summer, 500 ratepayers wrote to DPS saying they couldn’t afford higher heating bills to pay for new pipelines. On 12/17/15, 150 prominent Vermonters from business, faith, farm, and academic circles wrote Governor Shumlin saying market and climate developments led to one conclusion: Construction must stop now. By 1/8/16, 1350 more leaders, ratepayers, and average Vermonters had signed.

Expect rate shock when temporary drops in fuel prices and an unseasonably warm 2015-2016 give way to 31-32 years of sustained rate increases (“hypothetically” 12% per VGS) for expansion to Middlebury. For construction to Rutland, customers will see 1% added to rates and 1-2 more years of payments for every $10 million VGS spends. Some might see rate reductions, but many of the 17% in VGS territory over 65 will never see rates come down again. They’ll only catch the pipeline’s damage to Vermont’s farmlands, natural resources, and climate. Just before the holidays, the cashier at a Williston retailer asked me whether I lived in the area. I told her I was back home helping my Mom deal with Vermont Gas. Her response: “Oh. The pipeline. Everyone’s fighting that around here. No one wants it.”
========================================================================
Finally,
the unique geology of the Champlain Valley, once the Champlain Sea bottom,

Monday, January 18, 2016

Kris Kristofferson "Sunday Morning Coming Down" from the film "Road To A...



yesterday I watched this and smiled, a lot.
i looked up and it was quarter past noon,
no longer sunday morning,
no matter,
Kris made my day...

Rtafilm.com

RuthieFoster - "Heal Yourself" from the film Road To Austin



Wow...another great youtube video from

Rtafilm.com

Carolyn Wonderland and Bonnie Raitt - "Ain't Nobody's Fault But Mine" fr...



You tube surfing pays off,
Suggesting to me,
This wonderful link to two my favorite singer/guitarists.

This is part of a film,
Return to Austin.

Check it out...

Rtafilm.com

Posting 2 more links this morning...
Because good things happen in three's
meg

Sunday, January 17, 2016

First Flower


Oh, the sharing of a special gardening moment...
A Zinnia grows to brighten the astronauts' day
They fought the dreaded Space Blight.

Compare to Earthbound zinnias...

Earthbound Zinnia

Saturday, January 16, 2016

Winter


Winter seemed to come late, in waves, icy waves,
thunder snow, dimming light from cloudy skies.

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

Summertime

Link to Willie Nelson video-Summertime


Willie has done a new album-all music of Gershwin...
Last night, as winter is finally here,
I watched Willie's great version...

Tuesday, January 12, 2016

Tributes

Tributes from space











Sunday, January 10, 2016

Alternative Therapies...

The Pain,

Contemplated,

Begs for an alternative,

To #Pharma

Hey, Pharma isn't all bad,
It has got me out of a lot of jams and presently keeps
me moving forward.
Pharma Plus Dedicated Doctors
Create winning medications, combinations,
Always trying to minimize side effects, I hope.
If you think it's easy or profitable for Doctors to write prescriptions, then you don't know 90% of Doctors.
It's just more paperwork.
Patients often seek out a solution to their ailment (or they wouldn't pay the copay to visit).
Don't figure all pharma is responsible for all the bad in healthcare.
At the same time, do accept there may be alternative therapies, ointments, poultices, tinctures, elixirs, topicals, ingested, teas, and on and on.

As the Vermont legislative year began, the politicians were hot and cold on the alternative ancient healing herb, Cannabis.
Sounds like the cold ones have never been on
 "The Rack" of MS Pain.
Sounds like they aren't going to ask me what I think.
So, here goes a little statement into the blogosphere (it was also sent to the ms society-no response...I asked my bc case manager and she said medical director doesn't believe in it...there are at least 50 different sets of laws and standards, diagnoses eligible, licenses, blah, blah) :

I don't understand your position on Cannabis. There is plenty of research.
 Please help medical users gain legalization in all states. Decision between Doctor and patient. Often as a last resort. The pain is excruciating, spasms debilitating, depression heavy. Please help. Natural products, effective, as old as civilization itself.


Saturday, January 9, 2016

JOINT STATEMENT OF TOXICS ACTION CENTER AND JUST POWER RE: VERMONT GAS PIPELINE RULING

JOINT STATEMENT OF TOXICS ACTION CENTER AND JUST POWER RE: VERMONT GAS PIPELINE RULING

January 8, 2016

MIDDLEBURY, VT – The Vermont Public Service Board today issued a ruling stating that it would not reconsider the certificate of public good issued in December 2013 to Vermont Gas Systems, Inc. (VGS) to expand its transmission pipeline into the heart of the state.

The decision comes in the wake of news earlier this week that over 1,400 businesses, organizations, faith and community leaders, and individuals predominantly from Vermont signed a letter requesting that pipeline construction be stopped where it is at 11 of the 41 total miles. (See press release, letter, and signers at this link: http://www.toxicsaction.org/news/tac/1400-sign-letter-end-gas-pipeline-project) Even though the deadline for signing passed, the tally has continued to go up and is now 1,500.

For the last few years, Toxics Action Center staff and Just Power volunteers have followed the Board proceedings closely, carrying out extensive fact checking on VGS’ claims and review of the Department of Public Service’s (DPS) and other parties’ analyses. We’ve found everything ranging from obvious math errors to repeated instances of contradictory and misleading statements in VGS’ testimony and exhibits.

DPS is the public’s sole representative in utility cases. We’ve been alarmed by DPS’ blind support of VGS, including the shifting of goal posts to accommodate VGS’ cost increases and delays. In light of DPS’ unwillingness to enforce project conditions and regulations, we have little confidence that VGS’ pledged rate cap will hold. Ratepayers will not be able to enforce the agreement, and we have yet to see DPS do anything but VGS’ bidding since review of this pipeline began four years ago.

Today's decision sheds light on the broken regulatory process. The ruling relies on vague statements from VGS about how it might mitigate exorbitant rate increases necessary to pay for the project and notes that those options will be addressed in a future rate case. However, VGS could have filed a rate request already. Instead, the company, with ardent support from DPS, extended its Alternative Regulation Plan and deferred the costs of the first 11 miles of pipeline until next year. In other words, the latest cost increase could have been reviewed on the basis of facts. Instead, customers are left with continued uncertainty about cost increases that will affect them decades into the future. When DPS protects the utility rather than the public the regulatory process as a whole is broken.

In 2011, VGS received special dispensation from the State to pre-charge customers for what VGS said would be a distribution line serving businesses down Route 7 at a total cost of $60-70 million. Today, with a price tag of $154 million, rate increases that could exceed 15%, almost no price difference between fracked gas and oil, alternative home heating options dropping in price, available compressed natural gas for commercial customers, and a dangerously high-pressure transmission line that cuts through prime agricultural land and sensitive wetlands, the project and the conditions around it are simply unrecognizable.

With so much at stake for Vermonters’ safety, health, and economy, we today call on the Board to reverse its decision and appoint independent counsel to represent the public immediately. Vermonters deserve a fair and thorough review of this large-scale utility project. Under these circumstances, the only way the public good can be served is through effective representation by independent counsel – whether before the Board or before the Supreme Court on appeal.

###

CONTACTS
Shaina Kasper, TAC, 802-922-4780
Rebecca Foster, JP, 646-468-3511


Friday, January 8, 2016

Last Night

Last Night,

Burlington, Vermont

Donald Trump Rally,

We had tickets,
along with 20,000 ?? people.

Many of the people would never get to the Flynn,
Vermont's little 1400 seat venue.

We bailed at the thought of standing all day
to wait to see him.
I am barely able to go grocery shopping.

So we tried to watch with the you tube link,
the audio was so poor,
Then I found this link and will look for more.

A presidential candidate held a rally in Vermont,
We almost went,
The tickets we'll keep.



Thursday, January 7, 2016

Queen City Blues


Queen City Blues

We heard about the rally,
We both wanted to go,
The roads are bare,
Won't need long underwear,
Log on,
Score tickets,
all set.

Election '16,
What a boisterous scene
Was the event overbooked?
I took to Twitter to look,
The tweets told the tale,
Would be too crowded
Oh well,
We got tickets, my friend,
See the tweets that I send.
@marygerdt




Wednesday, January 6, 2016

Property Rights

I do not profess to be a legal expert

I do believe that property rights are the hub of a free society,

and without them we are slaves, all of us.

So consider what Prudence tweeted...

made sense to me. meg


Tuesday, January 5, 2016

Link to Mountain Jam Video with Amy Helm and Connor Kennedy


Great link!

Amy Helm 

Her album, Didn't it Rain
#21 on the Americana Music Association's list of Top 100 Albums of 2015
Well Deserved!






Monday, January 4, 2016

Rare Salamanders, Swampland, and Gaz. What's the environment got to do with it?

This may seem like diverse subjects.

Bear with me.
There is a sort of theme here.
I am anti-pipeline in Addison County, Vermont, USA
I am part of a group that is anti pipeline.
We own a piece of swamp.
Like a lightbulb, my thoughts illuminated.
If you mess with one part of the swamp, it's all connected,
you mess with the whole swamp.
So the first section is a little correspondence I exchanged with the town fathers.
What follows is more about reasons we are anti pipeline, and ways you can get involved.
I had hopes of posting all the recent press releases, and it became overwhelming.
This took precedent,
So much of the legal motions are expensive distractions.
Citizens suffer.
meg

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Me: On 12/14/2015 6:03 AM, Mary E. Gerdt wrote the town:
I read the minutes.
What parcel is the Nature Conservancy conveying?

Costs, impact on town?
Did you discuss?

I am also concerned we may not have been notified officially about the proposed pipeline impact on our swamp lot.

Mary Gerdt

P.s. while I don't expect to see my name mentioned as "public comment",
I don't appreciate being ignored or not counted.


Mary Gerdt

Them: I don't know of any swamp lot owned by you that would be affected by the Vermont Gas pipeline. The 10.3 acre parcel you own on the south side of Rotax Road is some 2200 feet from the proposed Vermont Gas pipeline which is on the far side of the Latrielle property from your parcel. If you believe that your parcel will be affected by the Vermont Gas pipeline, you should contact Vermont Gas.

Thank you for your interest.


Regards,

Stephen


-- Stephen Pilcher
Selectboard Chair
Town of Monkton, VT
(M) 802.598-1931
spilcher@monktonvt.com
"All the world is my teacher"

Notice - Under Vermont's Open Records law, all e-mail and e-mail attachments received or prepared for use in matters concerning Town business or containing information relating to Town business are likely to be regarded as public records which may be inspected by any person upon request, unless otherwise made confidential by law.

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

News About Vermont Gas Pipeline Project

Many of you might be wondering what's up with the pipeline project Vermont Gas has been planning for the last three years. Although Michels Corporation, the latest pipeline contractor VGS has hired to build this project has been installing pipeline under Route 116 north of Hinesburg at the Rocky Ridge Golf Course, the Certificate of Public Good (CPG) from the VT Public Service Board that VGS needs in order to finish this project, is still in jeopardy and VGS is doing so at their own risk. It may end up being a pipeline to nowhere.
I am attaching a video made by Ivor Hughes, a Monkton resident, who is among many who are concerned about the Monkton Swamp...an area where VGS plans to HDD under in order to avoid having to trench it through the sensitive wetlands. (if they retain their CPG) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usrZ68I_E6o&sns=em
You may have heard that VGS has agreed to reroute the pipeline around our farm. We believe this change of heart by VGS is not only because of our own resistance, (although we would love to believe they are finally taking no for an answer, they obviously are not doing so with other landowners and are in the process of condemning their land) but more because of an order from the PSB they would have had to HDD under our entire property which was included in the Board's order of December 2013. Now, with the bad experiences VGS has had wth HDD in the first section of pipe, it would seem that the new contractor has instructed VGS to find other ways through areas that have previously required HDD in order to save money and time. What will happen at the Monkton Swamp?
Many of you may have seen a group of people blockading a driveway on the Monkton Road near the end of Pond Road last Wednesday. A bunch of concerned citizens disrupted the first hearing the PSB held to condemn the Peysers land so VGS can build their pipeline (all this without having permission to finish the project!) We then prevented a site visit from happening by blocking the PSB and DPS access to the Peyser's land.
It has come to this folks. Time to put our bodies on the line and fight for what is right.
For more information about the hearing disruption, go to http://www.risingtidevermont.org/
There is much you can do even if you don't want to put your body on the line. You can sign a letter to the governor here: http://action.vpirg.org/site/R?i=bPt2d5hoJgzlYXVYMEkrhQ
You can donate money to Rising Tide or 350VT. But for heaven's sake...do SOMETHING!!! It's time.
Thanks.