A Fracking Fighter's Dream

I found this article which found new life...

Mary Gerdt sent this old news story and I took the liberty of updating it to reflect what we are facing today.

History: NIMBY Governor

http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20120415/THISJUSTIN/704159925





BRATTLEBORO — More than
1,200 anti-pipeline protesters flocked to the Brattleboro Common on Saturday
and listened to three of the state’s top politicians — Gov. Peter Shumlin, U.S.
Sen. Bernard Sanders and Attorney General William Sorrell — take turns criticizing Vermont Gas (VGS).

Sanders said that fracked gas was a dead-end source of 
Regulators from the Regulatory Commission have never said no to the pipelines
wanting to keep operating, Sanders said. “Something is wrong,” he said.









On a picture-perfect Saturday afternoon, people brought “Defend Democracy”
T-shirts and anti-fracked gas buttons, listened to Afro-beat music and watched
street performer “Will Nukem” before the state’s political top guns took over. 

All three said Vermont was in a battle for state’s rights, and that Vermont
should be able to determine that it didn’t want a fracked gas pipeline within
its borders, safety issues aside.

And they said it was clear that the “power of corporations and their money” was
prevailing over what they said was grassroots democracy that wanted the project
shut down and dismantled.

Shumlin, a lifelong Putney resident who represented Windham County before being elected governor two years ago, said  VGS had broken promise after promise to the citizens of the state, state government and the Vermont Legislature since it started this pipeline project over 3 years ago. 

“Thank you for standing up to Gaz Metro,” Shumlin said. “We will retire Vermont Gas right now with your help.

‘‘VGS has gone back on its word time and time again, and its history in Vermont is littered with broken promises,’’ said Shumlin to loud applause. He said the state would continue to push to shut down Vermont Gas.

“If you do business in Vermont, you keep your word,” he said.

VGS applied for an extension of its original state certificate of public good
in 2013 from the Public Service Board, but that proceeding has been on hold for
more than three years 

The Public Service Board should reopen the case, and  start from scratch since much of the testimony is stale. But that didn’t stop Shumlin from rallying the crowd in favor of an immediate cancellation of the Certificate of Public Good (CPG).

How many in the crowd had Vermont
driver’s licenses, the governor wanted to know.

A vast majority held up their hands.

“How many would drive without their license?” Shumlin asked. Only a few held up their hands.

“That’s the situation with VGS, aka Gaz Metro/ Enbridge,”Shumlin said.

Shumlin said later that he had met personally with New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo about New York joining the Vermont suit against the gas industry in
some way.

Cuomo has said publicly that he wants no fracking in NY state.

Shumlin, who made national news on Friday for his bare tale of eluding four
bears raiding his backyard birdfeeders, made light of the story, joking that
the bears “came from VGS.”

One protester held a “Bear Up Guv” sign in the crowd, while most of the signs
called for VGS’ immediate shutdown. Dozens of “VGS evacuation zone” signs were on the scene, a reference that the rally was being held within the 10-mile
evacuation zone that surrounds the pipeline..

“We are demanding justice for an agreement made 40 years ago,” said Sanders,
who drew the loudest cheers. He said the state had the right to determine a
“safe energy future for our kids and grandkids.”

Regulators from the Regulatory Commission have never said no to

the pipelines wanting to keep operating, Sanders said. “Something is wrong,” he
said.

Sanders said that fracked gas was a dead-end source of power, and that the
state should be commended for taking on a big state’s rights legal fight.

Sorrell, who is heading up the state’s fight in the federal court system, asked
the crowd, “Does democracy need defending?” 

“You bet it does,” he said.


The attorney general, who is running for reelection and faces a primary
challenge in August, said U.S. District Judge J. Garvan Murtha has set some
very dangerous legal precedents that went far beyond fracked gas pipeline
issues.


Saturday’s rally was the 40th anti-pipeline demonstration in Vermont in three years, but unlike a rally and march on VGS corporate offices, no one was arrested.

Organizers from a new coalition of about a dozen anti-pipeline groups in the region, said it was important to show that people are unhappy with VGS’ operation of and its continued abuse of public rights. Organizers estimated the crowd at between 1,500 and 2,000 people.



mary martin

CNN (Cornwall News