Spring cleaning in the Fall

Just couldn’t handle the same old familiar string in my blog’s right hand margin. Even if someone might miss my fracking protests, that cat’s 🐈 🐱 out of the bag 💼 Even if I chopped out all my complaints about the various ways my constitutional rights were violated by progressive town fathers and mothers

These fights are past

Gone

Not forgotten 

Not forgiven 

Separate at last 

Did it leave a seed of hate in me?

As long as I don’t nurture it, it will wither further.

Today our second time voting 🗳 in Virginia We’ll gladly bring our photo ID’s

A good day to sever with our memories of small town Vermont “Gubmint “

Hope to lighten up the margin a little.

Cool and crisp this morning 

There’s a cleansing in frost.

Meg

Archives of Monkton Chronicles

archiving old entries...

a town with no newspaper

at least in the traditional sense...

is there tradition anymore?

meg 2.6.2015

December 2014

12.15.14

It started snowing last week and plastered heavy snow and ice over trees and power lines. We lost power a few hours and others were not so fortunate. Even with all the cold, rain and snow, Been fired up about the town oh so powerful ones. Tax sale scheduled by the town again...when can this end? how? Meanwhile Fred got me some kefir grains. Now I am a dedicated kefir maker and drinker. My sister gave me some a long ago. It has a delightful taste. Lately, looking to buy some kefir in the store, the price is prohibitive. So here we are, making our own, or growing, ? raising? is that the proper verb? We need a cow, or a goat, that is for sure. More on kefir later. Suffice it to say it is a Pro-Biotic/Beneficial organisms. Fred made some sourdough bread from kefir starter...oh man, our new favorite food obsession.

Hope your Christmas or other Holiday of your choosing is pleasant. The days will soon be lighter. For now, lights adorn homes and trees. Not so much shopping going on...did anyone notice? meg

November 2014

11.30.14

November winds down in Monkton, Vermont

With temperatures fluctuating around freezing,

winds either straight north or straight south.

In a few weeks the daylight will start gaining again.

Christmas already being marketed heavily.

The VT prop tax bill still stuck in my craw...a big ouch. Then Fred talked to people with greedier towns..others pay 9 grand a year? more?

Wanted to post something to mark the end of the 11th month, Stick season, Thanksgiving, Hunting season, now shop until you drop or are trampled...

Keep warm...hey why aren't gas prices falling like the news people tell us???

Food, produce all high...if oil prices crash will all the prices go down?

Not if they keep printing money.

Oh, forget about it....Gray, Brown, Stick season....That is November. meg

11.10.14 What will we do when we run out of dinosaur bones?

You know, Fossil fuels?

The time change happened last Sunday. Many on Earth cannot fathom, no matter how oppressed, repressed or depressed and most present day humans don't have to deal with so called daylight savings time. If the US cannot fix that, no matter which major money sucking party is in power, we are doomed.

My pineal gland is throbbing. Then today, 8 days later, our older atomic clock decided to change the time...we had done it manually...so now it must be resert again. What a waste of my finite number of life moments.

Cold weather is seeping in. A huge storm over Alaska is spinning. We covered some of the windows with plastic, a petroleum product, used to prevent burning petroleum products. Gas prices still $3.30+...Fast to rise, slow to drop. Food prices spiking...once blamed on fuel, you will not see prices ever go down.

Zen Tangling, up to lesson 2 after 8 months...slow learner ;<}

As I do these trying not to be skeptical, following the ruleswhich I find difficult, I start to see, or sense or conceptualize a relaxed place, a meditation. The image that emerges from this exercise surprises me, pleases me, relaxes me. My blogger friends, Twitter people I follow or are followed by, FB binds me to the outside world. Every day a new app, a new image, a new view. Google, Blogging, all chronicles of the current day. Most might be irrelevant in the future world. In the future, If we do research the past, will all of this twitter feed be like the Zentangle, like a Test pattern to Calibrate the current events, painting the future we are powerless to predict?

meg

October 2014

10.31.14 Hallowe'en

October winds down with fairly mild weather overall. Soon to change. I blame the recent impressive solar flares for a little warming spell. Oh, and snow possible for tomorrow..not much.

The leaves all nearly gone now. A few golden leaves left.

The elections are Tuesday. We hope for property tax reform/relief. I am disappointed the price of gas stays so constant in Vermont...down a little, but not like the other areas. Same old song I know. Hoping for the proposed gas pipeline to be stopped. Neighbors have been spreading the word. Hope you have a great November wherever you are. meg

10.15.2014

Already halfway through October. Has been cold and now a few warm days. The leaves are turning fast and falling, The winds and rains, gloomy skies, diminishing sunlight...are all a part of the Fall experience.

The tax bill will be paid by my retirement savings. Having a hard time thinking of how hard I worked to earn that money. Now will pay taxes on it and pay taxes with what is left. No fancy vacation, no pay for 6 months, taxes on taxes.

The town casually mention tax sales in December...maybe. Getting stuck on this again. Lack of consistency, targeted property takings, constitution taking the back seat. No wonder I wrote nothing so far this month. meg

September 2014

September 29,2014

If I blink it will be October. Time does fly.

We received several more tax bills-the dreaded floating number...Trying hard not to let it detract from the beautiful

fall foliage. Originally taxes were the town's cut from the harvest. Now the town state, schools, civic groups all want a cut.

Have enjoyed listening to good old fashioned play by play-NY Yankees on #WVMT 620 am Vermont. My home team is The St. Louis Cardinals, and they are going to the playoffs. I drew a pic for Derek Jeter and will twitterize it.

Tommy our last cat is on my lap and gaining after being sick.

Glad to see Herrad: AccessDenied blogger is back online. A welcome friend.

September 18, 2014. The property tax bill arrived, second version, revised for our 2013 income. Guess they don't care I had no income for 6 months this year, 2014, due to disability waiting period for social security. Back in 2007, I told the town that $10,000 for 1 year for taxes, late fees, penalties for 1 year on our sad looking farm should be forgiven. The account they demanded was earmarked for my eventual disability. Now I am here, and the hungry town wants more of my bread. FYI the tax system has victims like us and beneficiaries like #NFL non profit?? Or the tax collector who I paid 8% of $6k and he never spoke to me or the town attorney, who got $1k and never spoke to me except later, after the shakedown, after $10k vanished...

I know, I know, you grow tired of my intolerance to being treated this old way. I see it as an ever-current issue. Tax sales being talked about on monkton, vt minutes...cryptic, better stay on top of it. No set schedule, rotating attorneys, sales of real property at the whim of town officials. No properties listed by name, thieves in the night.

On a lighter note:

We had a pleasant sojourn to Virginia. It looks like Vermont,

and so similar at first. Then the southern culture shows us our conditioned responses, local vernaculars and different foods, roads, rules. The weather much more tolerable than their summers, early fall a beautiful time.

Have a great day fighting your battles and counting your blessings. meg

Monkton Chronicles

Monkton Chronicles

"all the news that fits, we print." alfred e. newman

@vermontbiz looks like everybody wants a piuece of my heart... pic.twitter.com/yx6uyosaji
— Mary Gerdt (@marygerdt) December 2, 2014

Well, in the dim light of a Vermont winter's day,
I can see my editor really needs to pull it up a bit...

Next thing you know,
(after struggling to scrape money from my nest egg savings
that I will pay taxes on,
on top of taxes)

Then the town of Monkton, Vermont posts minutes from the selectboard
Where they are changing the delinquent tax policy...or something...actually it is not clear
what, why or when they sprung this baby on us...nice warning to voters...

Immediately I went into Lois Lane mode...
searching memory banks...searching...searching...
Hey, the head of the selectboard told me,
"You Cannot Change the delinquent tax policy"...
 Guess that meant I cannot, but some other schmuck can....

So if you are huddled
In a cold and drafty room,
and you're wondering what to eat next,
and you forget to use the broom,
and your body doesn't smell so good,
The tax bill on the stand,
The bread bag, oh so empty,
They have the upper hand,
2 cents here, 4 cents there,
You got to pay the man.

All you feel is cold despair,
You huddle with cats,
With blankets, socks and underwear,
Cover all the windows there,
Keep out the cold night air.
You smell the hate of others,
Blowing in the Wind,
Hate or Greed, they smell the same,
All will do you in.

Grow calluses
or skin of brass
don't let them
pull you into 
The Morass.

Sparring, #fracking and Nerve endings

Sparring

Back and forth I go,
editorial arguments,
woven with social media,
like burrs,
snarling up,
the ties that bind kept entering my mind...

Addison Independent's reporter Zach has renewed my interests.
Commenters using what seems like alias personae are verbally sparring with me and the neighbor, about that pipeline Canadians want to slip in thru the neighbor's garden.

It hit a nerve again today
Property Rights
It screamed.

So I thought I would post one letter,
out of all the letters that I wrote
where I attempted to show the cold cruelty of the so called select board-5 elected people who make some decisions,
and sometimes go too far.
Impossible to fight,
I chose to bring to light what is possible in a sleepy town.
People can be cruel, mean, without even drawing a weapon.

Really an FYI, readers,
My nerves need a virtual poultice.
yes, I did all I could do to try to reform this corrupt sick system...

Hello Governor Shumlin,

On October 13, 2009, our 48 acre farm plus 10 acre swamp property was nearly sold by the Town of Monkton to satisfy about $6,000 for being late 9 months paying taxes.

This was the first year we qualified for property tax adjustment by income.

We had always paid taxes on time for 17 years. This property has been in Fred's family since the late 1800's.

We incurred shame, fees, penalties, costs including percentages of the tax to a lawyer and tax collector.

We were never offered abatement or other arrangements.

I never had any idea this happened until a month later when we paid the next year's tax: $5,000.

The day before the tax sale, Fred paid them from an account we established in case I cannot work.

I have MS. Fred was out of work and had been a self employed electrician.

I have been struggling to get resolution. I applied for abatement but could not face certain people in town.

I argued because of many factors. These are on my blog.

I lost.

I still want to see what they did to notify us they were selling our property and why after only 9 months late.

The selectboard is not cooperating in seeing this. I cannot afford an atty. I am sorry the bill died in the committee to look at penalties like the $500 we had to pay the tax collector (8%). The town cannot even tell me what they did to inform me or my husband. I have asked for over 1 year.

The selectboard does what they want and they stand behind this practice. God help the next people

who are 9 months late paying taxes. Nobody else cares.

Thanks for listening. I think you are doing a good job.

Please look at property taxes, they are robbing from my family of bread.

and off topic, Please let Yankee stay open with conditions. Talk with Meredith Angwin. Please do not emotion rule your decisions on this. Rely on science.

Mary E. Gerdt
alvarita1@aol.com
traveloguefortheuniverse.blogspot.com

Vermont #frackin' news round up

mary's email had the header, 

"will sleep safe tonight..."

i was too tired to open,
letting the fracking related emails stack up like cord wood
until i just need to clean house...

starting w mary's link 
from the burlington free press
now i know what she meant...only in vermont...
http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/story/news/local/2014/07/08/vermont-gas-protest-man-charged/12374177/


Next, a link to Alberta Tar Sans Coalition:
http://www.albertatarsandsnetwork.ca/
join them...

Now This is a crime...

http://vermontbiz.com/news/july/price-tag-vermont-gas-pipeline-projects-jumps-35-million-121-million


Zach does a nice write up of the Knit in....comments interesting...

http://www.addisonindependent.com/?q=201407monkton-resident-arrested-after-sit-vermont-gas

NPR write up on knit in...

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/07/03/328163481/purling-in-anger-arrest-breaks-up-knit-in-at-vermont-utility?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=20140703

opinion page, Rutland Herald

http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20140702/OPINION04/707029934/1018/OPINION

Pennsylvania suffers...we all suffer...

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/07/02/3453533/fracked-wells-methane/?elq=~~eloqua..type--emailfield..syntax--recipientid~~&elqCampaignId=~~eloqua..type--campaign..campaignid--0..fieldname--id~~

Public Radio makes me question again, the public-ness of this format...

http://digital.vpr.net/post/nice-gneiss-geology-vermont

OK, people Gotta go....

archives of monkton chronicles 2014

Monkton Chronicles,

End of June 2014

I know, I know,

sometimes we chroniclers write just because we have a deadline.

In this case, an imaginary deadline, for an imaginary newspaper with one writer, one town, and no dough. I mean the green dough, gluten free: greenbacks, Benjamin Franklins, Buckazoids, cashola, currency. The newspapers that print on dead or murdered trees get paid by advertisers, an obvious fact to me but sadly not to many others. The newspapers may slant or lean news towards their advertisers. Still we are all subject to the veiled messages, the subliminal suggestions, the pressures of society, our bigger dysfunctional family. Well, it is both functional And dysfunctional. Yin and Yang....

Had wanted to write more often and decided I would write what I can, what comes up, what and when it seems relevant to me. This is my travelogue, where typos are sometimes left, grammar is freestyle turn of the second millennial midwestern to vermont transplant, and i struggle with daily pain, fatigue and the frustrations of paperwork, frustrations, bureaucratic crapola that comes with disability. it was so easy when i did it for someone else. have a good rest of summer...so far cold one in monkton, vermont. we are at a crossroads in our fight to stop the proposed canadian->NY pipeline someone thought worth taking people's hard won property for. not too late to jump into the fray. Q: how do you argue with a corps of engineers? A: don't bother, you will just waste your breath

Q: how do you argue with a corps of engineers? A: you'll never go anywhere, fool, you were not listening to me....

there...june 2014 in a nutshell

meg

End of May 2014

Struggling against the tide of paperwork to claim I am disabled when all I can do is the essential paperwork du jour dictating to me what do I need to do today? Working out the system in my head, as I sit and ponder this bureaucratic daytime nightmare, I am reminded of that blank stare as I would ask clients, did you fill out the form? I am reminded of the impressive stacks of befuddling papers, notices, warnings, messages that suck your energy. Do the dishes? Sorry, not today. Been stuck in an energy suck all day. It's likes a tornado only it sucks, it doesn't blow. Pipeline battle all radical now. Or so the pay media would have you think. Such uncivil tone! screams the editor of the Addy Indy, the local feel good rag for the college people to see the Idyllic county their kids live, study in and become the future senators, stock brokers, CEO's, Inheritors, Trustees, Skiers, Artists, Authors, Thinkers, Beautiful people.

I can write run on sentences. This is my blog and I can Whinge if I want to ;<{

It does a body good to spill one's guts. If you don't want to read this, please press the "X" at the top right corner of the screen.

I wasn't even sure if I could write an update for the end of May 2014. I felt like we got robbed of usable sunshine. Sunny days were too cold and windy out, then rainy and cloudy. Nights still 40's-chilly. Fred looking for wood pellets to burn.

Meanwhile nothing can rob me of the healing memories of being at Levon Helm's barn last Saturday night. Fred took care of me, pampering me all week so I could have the energy to attend the bar b que and concert...I made it. Even as I stood longer than I have in 6 months, I felt Levon's presence, I felt the Catskill stone under my feet, like it was under his feet, grounding him, like a magnet holding his feet to the ground, like it was holding me. I decided to resist posting any anti pipeline stuff until June 1st. I decided in honor of Levon and all those who played with him, and family, friends, fans, I would only focus on music this week. Music, that vibration, that mathematical vibration that gives us pleasure, takes us to times in our lives. Like the first time I was in the Catskills, Judy and I were in her plymouth Fury, visiting her friends. In the tape deck played Stage Fright, The Great Divide....Many of the songs played by The Weight last Saturday night....Google took us careening over a mountain trail to get from Tannersville where we were staying to levon's. I have some photos-working on sorting those into a movie. We had some adventures for sure. I decided not to spoil my week of music posting for those fracking bullies. But when I post an update...there will be a lot I have stored from taking a week off. We love Levon and his people...Have never had a more lovely night than a night at the Midnight Ramble...Levon's Healing barn of wood.

meg

Early to Mid May 2014

Updates, Tragedy & Ecstasy. Feeling so behined on reporting. In my mind, being an official world gateway to Monkton, VT, or at least trying to tell the world what is going on here.

Emerging from a crab like crustacean state induced by a hellacious winter past, bone crushing fatigue of MS et al and overwhelmed at the f'ing mountains de Paperwork I have had to process, Fred pulling up the slack. Me still in denial from time to time that I am disabled alternating with panic that I am done fer. Looking for a happy medium.

Oh the local government is posting minutes albeit still with the nebulous language, still local government people want a pipeline to go through wetlands, now want trails in wetlands and said no to digging rocks. The town sues some people, says yes to some, no to others, takes and or tries to take peoples' property using unconstitutional methods. We were near victims after 9 months late paying taxes. Now puzzled the State is raising property taxes and yet has no input into tax sales. God help us all. We cannot afford this anymore. Looking for the sunshine in the shadows....Music, Art, Beauty of spring slowly emerging. Fresh air, sunshine on my face. Breathe...more later.

Mid April 2014

After tax day, the images in my drawings had chains, hasps, locks, a woman petting a rat in prison. We paid $500. How is it that I have not earned a penny in months and have paid, paid taxes, robbing savings. We are run down from a bastardly winter, finally getting a few doses of life giving sunshine, warmth cannot be far behind...So the problem with taxes is that there is a breaking point with the little people. I hope we are near. Prices in the stores are hurtful to all. Money just not going as far. Beyond that, everything is wonderful in the land of maple sap. We are on the healing side of winter, the air smells better. Finally I got out the record player Fred got me for my birthday. Janis Joplin, Bob Dylan, Glenn Miller the first to spin...sounds better than the old days...what was it?

Early April 2014

The sun is encouraging me, coaxing me to the window,

higher in the sky and brighter. Watching for the solar flares, a big one was followed by the earthquake in Chile, also a breakthrough in the weather, warming up a little after enduring a downright brutally cold this past winter. It was nice to see the maple trees tapped, the snow melting, the ice going out. The taxes finally done, a bitter tedious pile of papers which seem to have no real relevance. Except write another check.

We are still fighting the pipeline and I can only pay attention certain days of the week. Otherwise I would not be able to survive. Fred got me the Beth Hart/Joe Bonamassa live from Amsterdam which is Incredibly Great! Wow... Also a record player which I will get out of the box. No I am not 18 anymore or I would have done all this already. In my good time. Decided I would listen to my best of Janis Joplin first. Been awhile since I have had a record player...

All for now.

Early March 2014

In spite of my personal inability most days to even get out of the house, the collective voters spoke loudly, clearly, against the proposed Gaz Pipeline. Time is a great moderator. The Gaz people trying to cram the pipeline down people's throats. "Threatening elders, women landowners with using eminent domain". Our elders, having better sense than the selectboard, stuck up for their property rights. We do have those in Monkton, Vermont, USA.

I will post some more links but frankly am fracking weary and ptsd from all the press you have to push to get anyone to notice.

On the home front, burning wood, pellets, furniture is next.

The daylight is welcome when it shows up.

It has been bitter cold. Like the first winter I was here.

Only not as much snow down here in the Champlain valley.

Jupiter was profoundly beautiful one morning at 4:30 when I couldn't sleep. She sparkled. It was 10 below f. and dead calm.

Hope you are having a good March. For us in like a lion. I posted a crappy YT link of I found the lions. Tech is a pain sometimes..will find the one I was looking for....meg

Mid February 2014

Hard to keep up with just living, let alone come up with profound messages all the time. Sometimes, drifting off to sleep, I desperately slap up some random pics or words that drift onto the keyboard. I have to admit I schedule certain posts. It might be equivalent to lip-Syncing, but for me it is a tool. We are fighting the pipeline from Alberta to NY via Vermont and our neighbors' garden. Our tools are words.

Been very cold here and we got a good bit of snow. Hopefully warming a little and sun higher in the sky. Keep warm!

Late January 2014

Been trying to keep up. The temperature keeps going down, stressing us all so by this time of the winter, precious little is left in reserve.

I wrote this once and it got hopelessly bound in blogger limbo, mismatched versions of software, ancient 3 year old computer and possibly it just was not meant to be.

We are overwhelmed at the prices of fuel, food, goods. We know there are plenty of us boomers transiting into mid-late middle ages. Like a renaissance, we must be willing to be the system we think must wrap around us. More on this later.

We are stretched thin, worn down, overloaded. We are weary at the fracking gaz fights. Some positive moves, some steps backwards. Making one thing crytal clear to me. Somebody is getting paid to grease these skids...well i am no columbo, but often the perpetrator is right under your nose.

Mid January 2014

We are in the middle of a January thaw, in the 40's, raining, deceptively imitating a spring thaw. We know we could go straight back down to 20 below again in a heartbeat. That is the North country. Am somewhat relieved to have 2013 behind us, even though there is nothing specific, except that cursed number 13. In my study of the Knights Templar, 13 could be traced back to a date when Knights were eliminated by slaughter. Burning at the stake sounds particularly torturous. Trying to keep up with the so called news and then I read some Aristotle. Some things seem to never change. Saw a photo of a recreated neanderthal man. Ponderous, would be the caption.

The pipeline fight is forging on. Now with Neil Young on the other end up in Alberta...I am reminded every day of the limitations that MS places on my life. Wondering how these fights all seem to mirror one another. Reminded of the

Line of the minuteman, April 19, 1775.

Stand your Ground

Don't fire unless Fired upon

But if they mean to have a War,

Let it begin here.

Captain Parker.


archives:



Late December, 2013



Nearing the end of year 2013.



Christmas, or whatever you call the short days...



Is over.



Thankfully the daylight hours gaining again for those of us inhabiting the Northern hemisphere of the planet.



We lost a good friend Lisa, who warmed my heart with her special soul. She adopted a cat from us who is now called Girly Girl. Girly's first name was Whitney. Lisa wanted a kitten. These were our Y 2K Kitten boom litter explosion where we contacted Green Mountain Animal defenders and they helped us trap, neuter and adopt over 20 cats/kittens. I thought for sure Captain would be Lisa's type. He was friendly and jovial. Well...it did not work. Captain freaked out and would not go near Lisa. So we settled on sweet little petite Whitney. Lisa adopted her, named her Meredian, and took care of her for many years. (Captain was furious, as it turned out, she was his kitten and I do not think he ever forgave us for giving away his sister). Recently Lisa asked if I could bring her back to our pride. Absolutely, of course. And we met one night and I took Meredian home and named her again, Girly Girl, aka Missy. No longer Whitney, Her Meredian chapter done. She was reborn again. Captain had died not long before this so he just missed her homecoming. I still think he sent for her.



So the day I heard Lisa left the material plane, Girly and I sat together a lot. I was relieved Lisa sent her back to be with us, where she knew the scents, the lay of the land, and us.



Now I am home more, I see the value in having a Girl cat boss me, tell me to get up, feed her, keep up my routine. She even likes to tweet with me. Thanks, Lisa, The best social worker, hippest, nicest, animal lover, sensitive, cool hipster. So cute, sweet, with that dark sense of humor only possible by where you have been. Your fears? I never saw any, we all have them. I hope yours were kept to a minimum. Did I intend to write this update about Lisa? Well, not really. Now that I have, however, it seems appropriate to ask you, wherever you are on the planet or off the planet, to raise a glass for Lisa today. It is the thought that counts, send a message for her to carry on with her extraordinary love light, and tell her Girly & I send our love, meg 12.30.13



Archives:







Early December 2013







Feeling the cold go through our house some days. Fuel untouchable anymore. Sick about the taxes we shelled out over 6K and the roof leaks, house is old as ever, land lays fallow like my muscles and nerves. I have become a non profit with no 501k. Feel sorry for others worse off than we are.







Fighting the Pipeline, Fracking, MS, Deja Vu.







Our bodies regenerate every 7 years. By my math I am due for a snakeskin shedding...soon to turn 56. Some numbers surprise you when you break them down. My inactivity stimulates my thoughts. How nerve damage, even in that quieter RRMS, causes a scenario where you must think harder, to get around the scarred places, to circumvent the damaged battlegrounds of my immune system against my own neuro system. Calling it...around the mulberry bush...that fairy tale about girls in prison...weird really...this is the way we wash our hair, wash our hair...My odd imagination imagining girls in jail, being smacked around, brain injured, now compliant, spirits broken...this is the way we wash the floors...







So I was making a connection with the fairy tale, another silly way to address a serious injustice. I love fairy tales. Working on a drawing of this one. meg 12.6.13























Archives...still relevant as long as we fight the pipeline extension into Addison county...today I compressed them into a file called monkton chronicle archives

Sunday Psalm for #Fracking fighters

Sing me a song,
Of a Pipeline gone wrong,
and I'll tell you it's 
all about Gaz.

Pipefitters on Meth,
Drawing their last breath,
Welding their pipes,
A faint smell of Death.


Journalists Swoon,
Singing the Gaz Tune,
Keeping their Advertising,
Their Position Uncomprimising.

Politicians are told,
PSB knows the score,
3 feet underground?
Yes, said the....PSB.
no, this doesn't rhyme at all w/ me either...

Fracking voted down,
In each Hamlet & Town,
Gaz, he don't care,
He wants to be Everywhere.
(or is gaz a she, or an it...)

A 16 year old could see,
The Folly, 
like you & Me,
of a pipeline of Hell,
Destruction,
Rome Fell,
He saw the Future like We,
#fracking fighters
We Be.


notes meg:
We love the Earth,
Our back yard,
our water,
our soil.
We love the Lake,
it gives us
Beauty, environment, fish, recreation.
We watch as the dinosaur bone wars continue.
Battles over fossil fuels-limited, finite, toxic.
Fuel prices going up again. Wars...
Is this to prop up the (un) natural gaz market?
Cram all these pipelines....through our rural neighborhood.
Not through the beautiful peoples' backyards,
they already winked and nodded and signed off in invisible ink. Oh yes, and New York State successfully averted a pipeline from Canada to International paper which sits on Lake Champlain across from Shoreham, Vermont. So why is NY silent about their "half" of the Lake Champlain which is earmarked for a high pressure gaz pipeline originating in Alberta, Canada? Maybe because their half of that part of the lake is a toxic sludge pile from vintage paper making. If I crossed all this out, it is because no one dares predict the combination of fermented chemicals and a burst pipeline...come on...it will happen. Freeze,-thaw,-pipefitters on meth, in a hurry, defective products, wear and tear. The fricking lake freezes over with Feet of ice. God help us all.meg

Monkton Chronicles Late May 2014

End of May 2014

Struggling against the tide of paperwork to claim I am disabled when all I can do is the essential paperwork du jour dictating to me what do I need to do today? Working out the system in my head, as I sit and ponder this bureaucratic daytime nightmare, I am reminded of that blank stare as I would ask clients, did you fill out the form? I am reminded of the impressive stacks of befuddling papers, notices, warnings, messages that suck your energy. Do the dishes? Sorry, not today. Been stuck in an energy suck all day. It's likes a tornado only it sucks, it doesn't blow. Pipeline battle all radical now. Or so the pay media would have you think. Such uncivil tone! screams the editor of the Addy Indy, the local feel good rag for the college people to see the Idyllic county their kids live, study in and become the future senators, stock brokers, CEO's, Inheritors, Trustees, Skiers, Artists, Authors, Thinkers, Beautiful people.

I can write run on sentences. This is my blog and I can Whinge if I want to ;<{

It does a body good to spill one's guts. If you don't want to read this, please press the "X" at the top right corner of the screen.

I wasn't even sure if I could write an update for the end of May 2014. I felt like we got robbed of usable sunshine. Sunny days were too cold and windy out, then rainy and cloudy. Nights still 40's-chilly. Fred looking for wood pellets to burn.

Meanwhile nothing can rob me of the healing memories of being at Levon Helm's barn last Saturday night. Fred took care of me, pampering me all week so I could have the energy to attend the bar b que and concert...I made it. Even as I stood longer than I have in 6 months, I felt Levon's presence, I felt the Catskill stone under my feet, like it was under his feet, grounding him, like a magnet holding his feet to the ground, like it was holding me. I decided to resist posting any anti pipeline stuff until June 1st. I decided in honor of Levon and all those who played with him, and family, friends, fans, I would only focus on music this week. Music, that vibration, that mathematical vibration that gives us pleasure, takes us to times in our lives. Like the first time I was in the Catskills, Judy and I were in her plymouth Fury, visiting her friends. In the tape deck played Stage Fright, The Great Divide....Many of the songs played by The Weight last Saturday night....Google took us careening over a mountain trail to get from Tannersville where we were staying to levon's. I have some photos-working on sorting those into a movie. We had some adventures for sure. I decided not to spoil my week of music posting for those fracking bullies. But when I post an update...there will be a lot I have stored from taking a week off. We love Levon and his people...Have never had a more lovely night than a night at the Midnight Ramble...Levon's Healing barn of wood.

meg

Monkton Chronicles. pipeline update....VPIRG filing

Monkton Chronicles Breaking News

Was saving updates on the gaz morass,
Then the tragedy in Harlem, aging gas lines.
How sad.

So tired this week,
Was awakened by an alert...

That's the only way I would open a 

Fracking email today

Friend Mary knew to put that in the heading.

In a nutshell,

VPIRG,

Vermont Public Research Group,

Is filing something.read on ...not competent in legalese.

Here is a link to the article explaining...

http://www.timesargus.com/article/20140314/THISJUSTIN/710179983


It is a beautiful day after all.
Thanks Mary...

Monkton,Vermont Breaking News: Pipeline rejected

Rejected

I appreciate the group efforts to stop the proposed pipeline...

Here are a list of press links about town meetings

Good news....

So thankful today.

So far…just copy and paste...I'll fix this later.

Seven Days:
 http://www.sevendaysvt.com/OffMessage/archives/2014/03/04/in-addison-county-voters-say-no-to-vermont-gas-pipeline


Press Republican:
 http://www.pressrepublican.com/breaking2/x1196471766/Vermont-towns-oppose-IP-pipeline

VPR: http://digital.vpr.net/post/update-addison-county-three-nos-vt-gas-pipeline

BFP: http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/viewart/20140304/NEWS02/303040030/Towns-say-no-to-gas-pipeline-Underhill-to-fix-problem-of-rainstorm-inside-town-garage

Fox44: http://www.mychamplainvalley.com/story/d/story/voters-in-vt-towns-oppose-vt-gas-pipeline/36630/fhU822lHL0uDqUYzmI13ZQ

WCAX (AP story): http://www.wcax.com/story/24879851/2-towns-say-no-to-vt-gas-pipeline-idea

AP story got re-circulated a bunch of places: http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Cornwall-voters-say-no-to-Vt-Gas-pipeline-idea-5287288.php

Ponderings on Monkton,Vermont, The Monkton Chronicles

Pondering this proposed gaz pipeline
Because my gut says urgency,
I stumbled onto this nice bit of town history.
It was on rootsweb.

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~vermont/AddisonMonkton.html

Suddenly my next post is solved,
My curiosity raised,
My afternoon consumed.

As I read this, reminded of my poem about Haystacks,
About the first woman settler of Monkton,Vermont.

http://traveloguefortheuniverse.blogspot.com/2010/04/haystacks.html


Also reminded we are being invaded by a different country,
A fractional tribe of thieves.
Cloaked in false promises, unrevealed horrors,
Undislosed plans.

Midday Gaz Report...

It was like the farther I tried to get away from the frackers,
there they were, messing with the neighbor women who I care about. What did Augustus McCrae say in 
Lonesome Dove? by Larry McMurtry
"Woodrow doesn't tolerate rudeness in a man..."
Fred always calls me Woodrow...
It really is about being a nurse. You spend your whole career sticking up for weak, vulnerable, abused, sick, despondent.
People who have been invaded, diseased, attacked, traumatized,
cut, robbed, blinded.
Sometimes it is us. 
Nurses can be funny, girls too. (and boys..:) 
We can be very assertive or aggressive in one realm
and submissive in another.
Yes, I guess that goes for most people.

Just that some people never do the submissive thing,
and we let them get away with it, chip, chip, chipping
at our self esteem.

So it is rare to have so much news in Monkton, Vermont I have to write a midday report, but what the frack? Who says I cannot??

A couple more updates about the 4 women who are being threatened by a Canadian company with ...Or else!!!

I am standing with these brave women.

Looking at the roots of economic injustice, the robbing of womens' inheritances and assets are ignored. Financial rape if you will. Both physical & financial rape have roots in power, control, taking. Robbing assets depletes a woman's power over her life. A Pauper less able to fight. Monkton, Vermont nearly sold my century farm for paying property taxes 9 months late and everyone knew but me. No one really cared. That is how it starts. Now women in Monkton, Vermont are being threatened by Canadian Gaz Frackers. That is how it starts.


The Digger has been digging a little...
http://vtdigger.org/2014/02/19/landowners-seek-safety-assurances-vermont-gas/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=landowners-seek-safety-assurances-vermont-gas

I think they could use a better shovel...maybe a broadfork.

Will keep posting links as they come in. There is a definite scatter factor on the part of the farckers.
They really want to keep us animals scurrying about while they put the greenbacks into unkown hands.
Bahhhd....

Why are you all in the pen?

Because we told you to go there.

A Christmas Tail ... Monkton Chronicles

A Christmas Tail

Monkton Chronicles

 

My first Christmas away from Illinois was in frozen Monkton, Vermont.

I moved here after urging by my roommate who subsequently left the material plane, leaving me no option but to carry forth our dream.

My new home was an apartment above a garage next door to a large dairy barn.

I was eager to see all the sights there, on an Addison County dairy farm as they were in 1981.

My new roommate milked cows and she left for Christmas holiday.

My inner city girl pined a little as I looked out at the drifting snow and watched the farmhands haul hay to the barn and haul the manure away.

The milk truck came.

Then nothing. No sound. Quiet...

I had never heard that before.

 

I went down to talk to the farmhand. His weathered face, his Vermont dialect, some words I missed,

I had to utilize what I call word averaging. Nod, Nod to get him to talk. But beware you don't want to nod indiscriminantly and accidentally agree to something self incriminating.

My questions were all about cows, what do they eat, do they kick? Are they smart?

The farmhand enjoyed being the expert and sharing his understanding of the world.

 

Around Christmas, the subject came up somehow.

"They kneel down," he said.

"What?" I sensed a profound moment coming...

"The cows, they kneel down at midnight on Christmas."

"What?" I said, longer, with my eyes closed, as if that could focus my inner vision.

Thus ensued a back and forth verbal dance with him playing me and me playing along.

I did not believe him...yet I did not want to refute this man, salt of the earth.

 

So I carried on, trying to stay warm, writing letters, trying to stay busy.

On Christmas eve, all alone,

the darkness came so early up this far north.

I had to,

I had to sneak down to the barn,

at midnight.

 

Why do barns look so different at night?

The creaky door handles are oiled last.

I hoped no dog would start barking.

My weak flashlight did not help much.

all the time me wondering why I was doing this.

 

I had to go downstairs to the main barn.

all the while my anxiety building,

it was so dark.

The cows patiently nodding in their stanchions,

chewing,

sleeping.

were they kneeling?

 

Well truth be told that is when I lost my nerve,

my path of least resistance was straight back out of the barn

and straight into my warm humble bed,

having faith those cows were all kneeling down

like Walt had said,

in the barn

on Christmas

at midnight.

 

 

One Thing...Monkton Chronicles

One Thing...

 

If there is one thing that I can say,

We spoke up, I spoke up, did what I can,

a small speck of a person,

fighting against a senseless pipeline.

blew my mind when looking at our town website,

 

monktonvt.com

 

and saw VT gaz posted an unsigned mou there.

what gives?

Am too tired officially to fight this.

 

Let me post what neighbor,

Jennifer wrote and hope

if you are so inclined,

no matter where you are in the world,

you can comment on this fracking insanity.

We say no to the pipeline in Monkton, Vermont,

Will you join us?

 

reprinted letter from Jennifer, dutiful servant to the rigorous fight against fracking pipelines.

 

The Agency of Natural Resources is holding a public hearing on the wetlands permit application for the Addison Natural Gas Project on Wed. Dec. 18, 2013 at 6 pm at Champlain Valley Union High School in Hinesburg, room 160. This is a hearing to receive public input on the impact of the pipeline on wetlands (and also natural areas, and rare, threatened or endangered species of plants or animals). Of particular interest to ANR is any information that local residents, especially landowners along the route, can provide on this topic that may have been missed by either Vermont Gas’s natural resource assessments, or by ANR’s review. In the first petition filing last December, VGS managed to miss the entire salamander crossing project, so who knows what else they might be overlooking?

ANR has already signed a Memorandum of Understanding with VGS. If you are wondering if this sequence is out of order, that is, having the hearing after signing the MOU, well, you’re not the only one. The MOU can be seen here, and can also be the subject for public comments:

http://monktonvt.com/documents/2013/12/mou-between-anr-and-vgs.pdf

The hearing notification is here:

http://www.anr.state.vt.us/dec/waterq/wetlands/docs/Determinations/2012-184_PublicNotice.pdf

The entire permit application is here (there is a lot of info):

http://www.watershedmanagement.vt.gov/cfm/notices/info.cfm?id=3231

 

Thanks Jennifer...

 

 

 

 

Monkton Chronicle Archives

Monkton Chronicles Archives from the sidebar.

Eventually I have to clean out the Monkton Chronicles...
Archived for the record.

Archives...still relevant as long as we fight the pipeline extension into Addison county...

Late November 2013.



The cold came in with successive blasts chilling to the bone.



Ison Headed into the Sun and still waiting for the upshot of that comet. Fun it coincided with Thanksgiving plus Chanuka all on the same day.



The turkey & trimmings are in the oven, cats lazy, giving thanks for warmth, food, Pets, Friends & Family. Now if you have no interest in natural gas, oil drilling or geology, stop reading now...



>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>



Been meaning to peruse these articles regarding natural gas, oil drilling in the Champlain Valley, seriously...1960 ish...



http://www.anr.state.vt.us/dec/geo/pdfdocs/Oil%20and%20Gas%20in%20VT.pdf



and



http://www.anr.state.vt.us/dec/geo/pdfdocs/VT%20and%20Quebec%20Potential%20QOGA3.pdf


Guest editorial from the front porch forum,

My neighbor:



Gas Metropoly?

Jane Palmer – Rotax Rd

Lately I feel I am living a Vermont version of the game, Monopoly. Instead of the four railroads, there are four utilities; Green Mountain Power, CVPS, VELCO, and Vermont Gas. Replacing Monopoly's two utility squares are “Green Energy” squares, where if you land, you pay a fee that is invested in alternative energy. These squares make you feel like you are doing something to help combat climate change. Actually, the money you invest goes to the utilities who sell Renewable Energy Credits to other states still burning fossil fuels. Indirectly, your fee on the “Green Energy” squares in turned to profit for the utilities. The “Free Parking” space is a “Free Hunting and Fishing” space. (about as common as free parking in Burlington or Montpelier.) The rest of the squares are much the same as in the original Monopoly game, only with more “Vermonty” names like Hardscrabble Road, Smuggler's Notch, Pleasant Valley, The McCullough Turnpike etc.

In this game, instead of playing with siblings or friends, I am being be forced to play with several large corporations that own most of the properties on the board at the start of the game. One Canadian corporation, Gaz Metro, owns all of the utilities as well as a few other key properties. (This is the equivalent of one player owning all four of the Railroads on the original game.)

On my first turn, I draw a card from the “Community Chest” that says, “Gas pipeline coming through your town, pay thousands of dollars in legal and professional fees.” Next turn I draw another one that says “Lost wages due to fighting the pipeline”. All the while, the other non-corporate players and I keep landing on the squares that Gaz Metro owns. Gaz Metro smiles as he takes our money. He tells us all not to feel bad, that it's all for the “public good” He will use our money to build new infrastructure...new infrastructure that will require all players give him more money when we land on his squares. “Not to worry,” he says...”This money will go toward investments in 'clean' energy.” The “clean” energy he is referring to however, is a fossil fuel that is extracted by extreme methods that pollute the earth.

In the “Chance” cards, there are several cards that say. “Pipeline sited across your property, collect $5” which may sound like good thing, because, after all, this is a game and you won't really have to host a pipeline, right? But then you read the fine print and it says your most valuable property would be immediately and severely devalued. (Think Park Place and Boardwalk suddenly worth less than Baltic and Mediterranean Ave.) Several cards say things like, “Path of pipeline cuts across your sugarbush, orchard, or newly planted berry bush field, you get $5, but lose all future potential income”. I draw another card that says, “Property taxes due. Pay $1000 on land you can no longer use.” And another one, “Fight with town to lower property taxes on easement-encumbered land. You lose. Pay $100.”

There are also cards that say things like “Take a hike up Snake Mountain, enjoy the view” or “On a clear night, stare at the stars” and “Go fishing on Lake Champlain” But no money comes with those cards. You still only get the $200 for passing go and the rents on the measly properties you have left. It's not enough to live on. I watch as my cash dwindles....I draw another card from the Community Chest and it says, “The Public Service Board grants Certificate of Public Good to owner of utilities.” This is the ultimate death card to any player that does not own all the utilities but to Gaz Metro it means that it can grab any property that it desires by using eminent domain. Our government will even assist in the condemnation. Give up your hopes of hanging on to the land you need or value. Say goodbye to the prospect of curtailing climate change. The future is grim.

If this were really a game, it would suck and no normal person would want to play it. But what I describe is pretty close to what we are experiencing. The players are not who we want to play with (in fact, we never agreed to play this game in the first place) and the rules are stacked against us. The outcome is obvious from the start and the only way you could possibly win is if you draw a “You buy a Tri-States Megabucks card and it's a winner, collect $2 million” card which I am not even sure really exists.

It is disheartening that the proponents of this gas pipeline keep touting the economical benefits of “natural” gas while they blame the lack of pipeline infrastructure in our state for our economic woes. We see the potential of economic benefits of a gas pipeline alright...to the owner of the utilities and to big businesses that consume huge amounts of thermal energy. To the rest of us...the costs are already adding up.

One has to wonder how things got this bad. Why would our government allow one foreign company to be so heavily invested in the lion's share of our state's utilities? Why would our governor claim to be supporting a switch to renewable and independent energy sources but at the same time, back a plan that will hook us up to a fracked gas pipeline for the next 100 years? Why is a company that has no respect for agriculture and landowners, being allowed to plot and plan a design to crisscross a state renowned for it's beauty and landscapes, with pipelines carrying a lethal gas that has been extracted by extreme methods, rendering the areas it comes from poisoned and ravaged? One has to wonder, who designed this game, anyhow?

There is a groundswell of opposition growing against this pipeline. Those that have not been paying attention are starting to tune in and raise their voices against a fracked gas pipeline project that seems to be progressing along in spite of the outcries of dissent. If those outcries are ignored, they will get louder. Vermonters have a right to protect our land, our health and our economy. We have a right to refuse to take part in the desecration of our planet. We have a right to say “NO” to the Addison “Natural” Gas Project....

by Jane Palmer...a Great Writer, mom, farmer, activist.

more archives:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

November 2013...already, time change...already, 

another imposition.
not enough sunlight, daylight, 
not enough Time.
Then I reel myself back in, take a nap and re-prioritize.
The time change adjustment will take only a few moments of random panic or tiredness, usually not attributable to a time change. 
The sunlight/daylight thing is best left alone. Sleeping more can be a good thing: quasi hibernation/reflective meditation.
The fact we do not have enough time is a strange one. That one depends on the definition of Time. I am too tired to start that one.
Finally, I am posting my comments on a proposed town plan for Monkton, Vermont. It is available to peruse on 
monktonvt.com
comments are due tomorrow. i did this at the last possible minute. it is overwhelming to comment, believing my comments will fall and blow away like the leaves. m.e.g.

I, Mary E. Gerdt, Monkton town landowner am commenting on the proposed town plan.
I found the 200 or so pages of the proposed town plan a bit too much to wade through.
There is a lot of subjective data like the flowery descriptions of a farm utopia turned bedroom community.
Neither seems accurate or relevant.
Each person who owns property has control over their property within the confines of rules and laws.
When the town uses a document to project a concept they impose on a landowner, a value, an image, it should not be in such subjective tones.
We do not need any more rules in Monkton, Vermont.
It is hard enough to develop lots. Please do not think about downzoning our property.
We already are taxed on best use.
Please correct cemetery Road on the map. The end was thrown up. I grow tired of asking for this. You should also add Norris's extension heading West.
Finally, in spite of all the work that went into this plan, I see little that I could support in a vote.
Every subjective sentence creates a slippery slope for landowners.
Please respond that you received this.,
Mary E. Gerdt

October 2013

As we are 2/3's of the way through October, thought I would report from my Monkton,Vermont news room.
It is hard working full-time and trying to keep up. Thanks to my followers and co Twitterers who keep me up on the worldwide stage.
Locally we fight the gas pipeline proposal that has environmental implications beyond any theoretical benefits. We got our tax bill, piled high and scary, over $500 @ month,
Smells more like rent. 
On the Bright side,
The colors have been spectacular and always too short lived. Remnants of colors stimulate your eyes and remind us of the winter to come.
Hunter's moon last weekend, Solar flare last week.

Cardinals v. Sox series. I sat with my Bohemian Uncle Frank listening to the radio: cards v sox in 1968 series. Great memories. Enjoy October 2013, mg

>>>>>below are archives....
September 2013

Fall is around the bend.

Finally rearranging parts of my blog. So cluttered, like I see piles of books and projects everywhere around me. Is that really such a bad thing?

Fighting the pipeline, in whatever time slots I can find.

Labor day gives most workers in the US an extra day to do whatever the heck we want to do. About 4 am I heard the rain POUR, then later the drip, drip of the roof and trees and the air is so damp, the air is dripping.

Humidity is not becoming of New England. Pretty soon we will be burning pellets and the winter will kill off the molds.

Our garden is a moderate failure and we are in good company. Somehow the lack of sunshine, excess rain early on, weed and bug proliferation and personal fatigue contributed. We are lucky to get anything and reminded of the heartbreaks of gardening that balance the triumphant years. It is so reassuring when a gardening comrade joins me in my misery, we both love the company. Enjoy Fall or Spring wherever you are on the planet. The colors have started here and it is always such a surprise. The swallows have left their nests. Last week they fed their month old babies in midair. Now they and babies are flying to Southern climates. And we think we are so advanced...mg


my favorite tweet of 2013:

The universe constantly plays back to you the energy that you are putting out into the world. Yes, you are that powerful! ♥#spiritchat&mdash'>https://twitter.com/search/%23spiritchat">#spiritchat
— Panache (@PanacheDesai) May'>https://twitter.com/PanacheDesai/status/338640126253096960">May 26, 2013

***Keeping posted because we must stop the nG pipeline plans.

We fight with words, not deeds.



Monkton Chronicles Guest Editorial

Here is the letter to the editor as it appeared in the May 27th edition of the

Addison Independent....

Selectboard ignored safety concerns while backing gas pipeline
project
We appreciate the Middlebury selectboard's sharing their reasons for their
continued endorsement of the Addison Natural Gas Project, however it appears
that a reality check is in order.
The selectboard says that the facts don't support concerns about the
increased danger the pipeline will represent. I guess the pipeline leaks that
Vermont Gas experienced last month (in St. Albans on April 24, and in Hinesburg
on April 25) and the leak less than a month later on May 21 in South Burlington
don't count. Thankfully, no spark ignited these leaks causing a deadly explosion
and fire.
The selectboard also cites lower greenhouse gas emissions as a reason for
supporting the Vermont Gas pipeline. Unfortunately, research conducted by the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration found that up to 9 percent of
the gas leaks from gas wells, more than double the official inventory but in
line with estimates made in 2011 by a Cornell University research team who also
tested for methane leaks around active wells.
Then there is the study published in the journal Atmospheric Environment by
a UC Santa Barbara scientist who tested air samples across large parts of the
U.S. during a cross-country drive and found methane emissions far higher than
expected, confirming the more localized studies. This would not be a problem if
not for the fact that methane is over 100 times more potent a greenhouse gas
than carbon dioxide in the short term and about 21 times more potent in
accelerating climate change in the long term.
While our selectboard prides itself on making decisions based upon the best
information available, it appears that in this case the "best information"
considered by the selectboard is a report by the U.S. EPA, an organization with
the conflicting job of being both a regulatory agency and promoter of the fossil
fuel industry. EPA estimates are not based on extensive direct measurement,
monitoring and reporting of hard data, but are calculated indirectly by applying
estimated emission factors to data on the total amount of gas produced. An audit
by the inspector general of the EPA cited the agency for lacking "directly
measured air emissions data" and "a comprehensive strategy for improving air
emissions data for the oil and gas industry." The inspector general also found
that "about half" of the EPA emissions factors were based on insufficient or
low-quality data.
The board's letter declares their agreement that "renewables are necessary
for a sustainable future" and notes a United Nations report that predicts up to
21 percent of industrial energy usage will be from renewables by 2050. They are
failing to act upon this recognition since support of the pipeline delays
progress on implementing our renewable energy infrastructure. They instead
acknowledge other studies with slightly higher numbers, but with the overall
message that we will be depending on coal, oil, gas, and nuclear power for many
years to come.
They must not be aware of the recent Stanford University study that found
that New York state alone could supply 99 percent of the entire state's energy
needs from renewables within 20 years. With the realization that today, Germany
meets about 40 percent of its energy needs from renewables, it appears that the
real reason we will be relying on nuclear and fossil fuels for many years to
come, is because our political and business leaders continue to invest in fossil
fuel infrastructure and delay investment in renewable energy...the Middlebury
falls hydro-electricity project that has been languishing on the drawing board
for several years now comes to mind.
Selectman Nick Artim has stated that the majority of town residents support
the pipeline project. However, since no vote has been held on the issue and no
polling has been done to gauge residents' opinions, any statement that a
majority of citizens either support or oppose the gas pipeline project is just
speculation. If the selectboard were serious about allowing Middlebury residents
the ability to choose among our energy options, it would allow a vote on whether
the town should support the pipeline.
The selectboard also claims that economic savings by businesses are
necessary to create jobs, and suggests that we are suffering from some kind of
job crisis. The data do not support the position that natural gas service in an
important factor that causes businesses to succeed or fail, or impact the hiring
of workers. Vermont's unemployment rate, seasonably adjusted, was 4.1 percent in
March, third lowest in the nation. Compare that to the rates of states that have
the most dense interstate natural gas transmission lines in the nation: Ohio,
7.1 percent; Pennsylvania, 7.9 percent; New York, 8.2 percent; West Virginia,
7.0 percent; Texas, 6.4 percent; Louisiana, 6.2 percent. Clearly, variables
other than natural gas infrastructure have a greater influence on the economic
condition of a state or a county.
And yet, the strongest argument in favor of the pipeline made by the
selectboard is economics. Vermont Gas Systems will make hundreds of millions of
dollars for their Canadian owners if the pipeline is built. Unfortunately, the
rest of the businesses and residents who decide to buy fracked Canadian gas can
expect prices to rise significantly in the next few years because the collapse
in natural gas prices dropped the price below the cost of production, an
unsustainable situation for drilling companies. Thus, claimed savings of $200
million over 20 years that Middlebury can expect are grossly overstated. Savings
will only be short-term.
If the selectboard were serious about taking action to reduce emissions,
protect the environment, support the local economy, grow jobs, provide long-term
savings on fuel costs, and support the position of the majority of residents,
they would abandon further fossil fuel infrastructure development and
aggressively pursue renewables and energy efficiency. This past year a Vermont
legislative task force determined that it would take about $27 million to
retrofit 80,000 Vermont homes for energy efficiency while providing energy cost
savings and jobs, actions that polls have shown the majority of Vermonters
support. For the price of the Addison Natural Gas Project, we could retrofit
every home in Addison County with the latest energy-efficiency upgrades and
still have money left to install solar panels on many homes. However, it looks
like our selectboard is not going to allow facts to get in their
way.Ross Conrad and Alice Eckles
Middlebury
Bees be with you,
Ross Conrad
Dancing Bee Gardens

http://www.dancingbeegardens.com/

“The bee is more honored
than other animals, not because she labors,
but because she labors for
others”

-Saint John
Chrysostom
"We
don’t have to engage in grand, heroic actions to participate in the process of
change. Small acts, when multiplied by millions of people, can transform the
world." – Howard Zinn

Will edit what has changed....Someone on no vt gaz pipeline list found the New York State funded study saying heck no to natural gas pipelines in rural areas, like say, can you spell Adirondacks? They cited enviro factors, burden on local volunteer first responders...Oh search for it. I cannot put up the article but you can find it and whoever they is that thinks they are going to cram the pipeline right through my neighbor Jane's Garden, really should read it....>nothing here changed....again disappointed at the price of gasoline, $3.60U.S./Gal here tax up 6 cents or is it 6%? ...food..groceries, Why was it so high again? The new taxes will be piled on, chipping away at our retirement, our budget. Still seeing elders and others in grocery store holding food items not sure..should I buy..put it back?...with stunned expression. I think the pro-taxation peeps think my earnings are a Public Asset to be milked. I really cannot say anything nice about the economy so maybe I should just say nothing.. There, none of that has changed this week.

Large group opposed to the fracking (just found out correct spelling is Fracing) pipeline fighting with pens, words and put an ad in the Addison independent. I try to post comments. Most say No to pipeline. Hey, Yoko did a cool you tube, also a judge ruled in NY on Thursday 5.2.13...let us hope for us that the pipeline will not be allowed in our rural idyllic town and that more people wake to the facts that frackin' is all wrong.

Speak up if you can. This is the time.

Also remembering to promote people like Alexis P. Suter and Levon Helm, Amy Helm and Joe Bonamassa plus Beth Hart...and dang Glenn Hughes in my top blog posts week after week...I know why! plus many more musicians who make life so much better.

Hope everyone who passes this gate has a wonderful week. Make a wish, a good wish, put it away, hope it comes true.

No, not one per customer. Make as many wishes as you like. mg

http://traveloguefortheuniverse.blogspot.com/