The town of Cornwall is calling on the Addison County Regional Planning Commission to fight a proposed natural gas pipeline that, if constructed, would carry gas underground from Middlebury to Ticonderoga, N.Y.
The Public Service Board approved “Phase One” of the Addison Natural Gas Project, which regional planners endorsed, in late December; that leg will bring gas south from Chittenden County to Middlebury. Vermont Gas — a subsidiary of GazMetro — filed plans requesting approval for “Phase Two” with the PSB in November. The second leg would jog southwest, through Cornwall, Shoreham, and then under Lake Champlain to its terminus: the International Paper plant in Ticonderoga, N.Y.
In her letter this week to the regional planners, Cornwall selectboard member Judy Watts points to two provisions in the regional plan which she argues provide “specific and unambiguous” reasons for rejecting the Phase II project. The plan states that energy infrastructure and services should not “cause undue adverse impact to the health and safety of residents or on the environmental quality of the Addison Region,” and that no large energy generation or transmission facilities should be constructed in the region “which have as their primary purpose providing energy markets outside the Addison Region.” The letter is signed by all five members of the Cornwall selectboard.
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Yeah, lets hold up one of the cheapest forms of energy … par for the course in this state. Anything that could help people’s wallets is opposed.
I wish Vermont Gas would run a line up my street. Instead I’ll continue to pay several thousand dollars in heating oil…
Why the hate for our neighbors in New York? Lots of people have jobs at that paper plant.
So glad to see Seven Days covering this important issue. Like most Vermonters, I believe that asking others to frack for gas for us is simply wrong. Vermont banned fracking in 2012 because it’s so dirty, dangerous and costly—from earthquakes to birth defects to water so contaminated you can actually light your faucet on fire, the news on fracking gets worse every day. Importing the gas from Canada doesn’t make it any less harmful to public health, or to air, land or water resources. Fortunately, easy-to-use, clean technologies – like air source heat pumps, solar, and efficient wood stoves – are already cutting Vermonters’ heating bills in half.
http://www.greenbuildingadviso…
It’s simply irresponsible to increase for Vermont to increase our dependence on fracking, to wager on the fracked gas price bubble, and to build massive new fossil fuel infrastructure at a time when we’ve got so many untapped clean energy technologies. Just like Phase I, Phase II of this massive fracking infrastructure project is unnecessary and shortsighted.
jcarter1, I dislike the whole money angle. There is more to life than money….like property rights, clean water, safety. This is not a line to distribute gas to individuals. This is a high pressure transmission line to NY state to serve IP. We have a wood/grass/corn pellet furnace that heats our old home at half the cost of fuel oil. There are better alternatives than this poison
tim, IP has never been a good neighbor to VT. IP has stated that if VGS doesn’t deliver, they will get it elsewhere. Good, go elsewhere and stay off of our farm. There is no benefit to Vermont in Phase 2 spur to NY State.
There is more to life then money… especially when you have enough of it. What’s a pellet furnace these days $15-20K?
Oh come on. Hundreds of regular people work there or have businesses that serve their employees. Maybe you can afford to replace the paper goods in your house with imported fair trade organic papyrus and good for you. The rest of us have to settle for regular toilet paper. Don’t squeeze the Charmin, Mary. 😉
I recall many people from Cornwall opposed the Ticonderoga Paper Mill plan to burn tires because they were concerned about air quality. Natural gas is the cleanest burning fuel available and now they are concerned because….??? Seems a bit disingenuous to me. Is there a social class bias at work here? Cornwall has many well-to-do residents while Fort Ticonderoga has many working poor. Do the people in Cornwall care about that? And for those opposed natural gas because of fracking, then I suggest they give up gasoline and oil because the drilling process for that fuel often involves fracking and is far worse for the environment. You can’t be selectively against fracking for natural gas but accept it for oil.
jcarter. I don’t want to engage in a back and forth of insults and name calling. I wanted you to understand that this pipe isn’t a small distribution line, it’s a high pressure transmission line to serve one customer in NY. And our furnace was less than $7000. It was a reach for us but also a commitment to our environment and our wallets.
Tim, I am amazed by the anger you exhibit toward me personally. I think you need to realize when you make these sort of statement that people will try to help you understand the bigger picture. “Your mind is like a parachute. It only works when open.” Just try to understand, I like Charmin, sorry.
It’s true, lots of people find me amazing. Do you know what a winkie is? 😉
Mary, it’s great that you made a commitment to your wallets as well as the enviornment. You acted in a manner that you feel was in your best interest. Why not let others do the same?
Also I ask your preference, should IP burn tires, oil, coal or natural gas? Which would be your preference? And if VT gas does not supply IP do you think a NY based company will?
Here’s my take, IP needs a cheap source of energy. Of their options natural gas is the best for the enviornment and for their wallets. If VT gas doesn’t run a line some other company will.