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Showing posts with label Gaz updates. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gaz updates. Show all posts

Saturday, September 15, 2018

Breaking #Fracking Breaking #Pipelines

Just saw the images near Boston
Of “natural “ gas Pipelines ruptures
And house fires.
The Trans-Addison County Pipeline
Has safety issues not being addressed
And all I can do is tell You.
Thanks for Listening 😎

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 14
Contacts: Julie Macuga, Extreme Energy Organizer at 350Vermont, resist@350vt.org, 802-238-5777
Maeve McBride, Director of 350Vermont, maeve@350vt.org, 802-999-2820
Is Vermont Gas Next in Rash of Explosions? 
Burlington, VT. “Armageddon” is how local officials in Lawrence, MA described a series of natural gas line explosions that led to roughly 60 fires and 17 natural gas leaks. According to residents, there were so many fires “you could not see the sky.” Dozens have been injured, and a teenager is dead. On September 10, a week-old  pipeline in Pennsylvania exploded destroying property, and in response, local lawmakers are calling for a halt in its ongoing construction.1
“The situation in Massachusetts is horrific,” said Maeve McBride, Director of 350Vermont, “and it’s extremely troubling in light of the fact that there are significant unresolved safety issues with the Addison County natural gas pipeline. The public is at risk because the Public Utility Commission has not completed their investigation. It’s past time to stop building fossil fuel infrastructure”
Vermont Gas is under investigation for allegedly failing to meet safety and construction requirements during the construction of the 41-mile Addison County Natural Gas Pipeline. The investigation includes inquiries into at least 8 different categories of safety violations from the depth of the pipe burial to possible missing infrastructure components.
It has been over 425 days since the Public Utility Commission called for an independent investigation into these possible safety violations, in response to citizen-led investigative work last summer. In April, the scope of the investigation was expanded to include additional safety concerns, but no further progress has been made to date. A status conference with the Public Utility Commission, Vermont Gas, and local landowners involved in the investigation is scheduled for Friday September 21. 
Julie Macuga, Extreme Energy Organize for 350VT added, “It’s taken years for the public’s concerns to be considered, even with a mountain of evidence behind them. Now we’re stuck wondering what will happen when tragedy like this strikes Vermont-- who will be held accountable?”
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1-https://www.dailylocal.com/news/local/lawmakers-call-for-halt-to-pipeline-construction-in-light-of/article_72f113be-b548-11e8-8867-330c7bbc941d.html
ABOUT 350VERMONT:
350Vermont is a statewide organization in Vermont working to build a grassroots movement to reverse climate change. 350Vermont’s mission is to organize, educate, and support people in Vermont to work together for climate justice – resisting fossil fuels, building momentum for alternatives, and transforming our communities toward justice and resilience. Although we are an affiliated group of 350.org with a similar mission, 350VT is an independent organization, with local campaigns to bring about solutions to climate change, advocate for a carbon pollution tax, and stop any expansion of fossil fuel infrastructure.
For more information, visit: 350vermont.org

Sunday, March 4, 2018

Twitter Chatter #fracking tweet


Thursday, March 1, 2018

****Breaking*** #fracking update Trans Vermont Pipeline

PRESS RELEASE: March 1 2018
On discovering multiple serious safety violations and problems with the construction of the Vermont Gas ANGP pipeline, intervenors in the ongoing investigation case before the PUC (17-3550-INV) filed a compelling motion to broaden the scope of the case.
The filing states: “sufficient information has been provided to lead a reasonable observer to conclude that Vermont Gas Systems committed widespread, repeated and potentially catastrophic violations of critical public safety requirements of the Certificate of Public Good. It also violated an environmental protection requirement that is essential to protecting wetlands.” 
The filing (available via ePUC) details 7 safety violations including:
1.Burying pipeline with known coating damage and lack of records of inspection of coatings
2. Failure to install specified sand padding and support under the pipe, instead laying the pipe directly on the bottom of trench.
3. Failure to compact trench backfilling materials as specified, or to perform required testing of compaction.
4. Failure to install, or keep records of installation of zinc ribbon, used to protect against corrosion in areas of electrical influence.
5. Use of an unapproved method for installing pipeline in at least “several” swamps along the route.
6. Lack of a mandated “Quality Assurance Plan” throughout much of the construction as was required.
7. Failure to install bentonite trenchbreakers, which prevent draining from streams and wetlands, in at least 13 locations, and failure to keep records of locations.
Rachel Smolker, one of the intervenors stated: “We have done multiple public record requests and discovery requests in this case, which resulted in thousands of pages of documentation, so our findings are derived from studying VGS and DPS own records and communications.  The current case began when VGS admitted to too shallow burial in a swamp in New Haven, something they only admitted because we took photos and delivered them to the federal pipeline hazardous material safety administration (PHMSA). The problems in that one swamp we happen to know about are not limited to too shallow depth – there is no padding and support under and around the pipeline, and no compaction of trench backfill. Further, this swampy area, recognized as a “state significant area” for its’ ecology and flooding regime, is close to the VELCO high voltage transmission wire corridor, an area of “electrical influence” – meaning it required special zinc ribbon installation to mitigate against corrosion.  Evidence indicates that the zinc ribbon was never installed.  Multiple compounded risks we know about are not likely limited to this one swamp.  Anyone living along the pipeline route should be concerned.”
Meanwhile, over the past several days, VGS has been flaring gas at the Middlebury gate station, alarming residents who can hear the roar and see the flames shooting into the air for miles around. VGS is running an “in line inspection” tool which is carried through the pipe by the pressure and flow of gas.  Yet there are not enough customers purchasing gas to raise the pressure in the pipe to the necessary level to carry the tool. DPS’s gas engineer in April 2017 reported to PHMSA that “Only approximately 20 customers are utilizing gas transported by way of the 30 mile long segment downstream of Section One.”
So VGS is adding gas at the north end and flaring it down in Middlebury to raise the pressure. Gas has been flowing in the pipeline through to Middlebury for almost a year without the inspection having been completed due to weak demand for the gas.
Multiple safety violations and lagging inspections put landowners at risk all along the route, in order to serve gas to a handful of customers.
CONTACTS:


Saturday, April 29, 2017

Breaking #fracking

Updates to supersede all others...



I just deleted a bunch of info from group we get in emails 
This one is the Biggest of all!

I'll blog this one.
How ballsy that VGS  is offering liquid gas by highway for businesses off the pipeline route (huh?)
Now the power company putting extension cord in Lake (dredging!)

GMP raising rates

All consequences of Canadian power mogul
Allowed to create greedy power monopoly 
Retaining separate power vendors with original Vermont names
As the prior Governor skates away
Having achieved objectives 
Vermont Yankee Nuclear plant closed ✔️
Solar panels, Windmills subsidies,Higher power charges for 🌏 Long term effects ignored✔️
Allowed Gaz Metro to acquire multiple Vermont companies like Green Mountain Power, retain name✔️
Cram pipeline through expendable Addison County,Taking land from farmers✔️
Maintain Public Service Board That is neither Public Nor A Service✔️
Board code word for Omnipresent Omniscient Omnibus's✔️
"Easier to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission