Tag: Rising Tide Vermont

Vermont Pipeline Opponents Scale Tree, Halt Land Clearing for Pipeline?

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treevia Rising Tide Vermont

[UPDATE: Day 2 Press Release]

Monkton, Vt. – For the second time in less than a month, opponents of Vermont Gas Systems’ fracked gas pipeline have taken to the trees to prevent pipeline construction in Addison County. An individual is sitting in a platform thirty feet high, effectively stopping crews from clearing the pipeline route.

“As we’ve said before, this pipeline ends with us. We don’t see the state’s decision to support this polluting, expensive pipeline as a legitimate decision, and will continue to get in the way of construction as much as possible,” Addie Herbert of Rising Tide Vermont.

Vermonters from across the state have attempted to stop the pipeline for years, through testifying at public hearings, writing letters, appealing to elected officials and intervening in the controversial Public Service Board process. Many feel they are left with no recourse but to directly intervene in construction.

“The Public Service Board showed their true colors recently, when they proposed barring the public from pipeline hearings,” said Jane Palmer, who’s farm is less than half a mile from the tree sit. “It’s no surprise that people are putting their bodies on the line when the state is putting corporations above democracy.”

Vermont Gas Systems sources its gas from the Western Canada Shale Basin, one of the largest deposits of oil and gas in the world. If built, this pipeline will become a major emitter of greenhouse gas emissions over the coming decades. Opponents see the project as a direct link to the carbon and methane time bomb that scientists have warned

“We’re calling on all who are fighting to increase local control over energy projects in the state to join us in our effort to stop this undesirable pipeline,” Herbert said, in reference to recent legislation aimed at increasing town oversight in regards to renewable energy siting. “If we are to meet our energy needs in this state without wrecking the climate or landscapes of other communities, we need to end this system of unaccountable, corporate-owned energy and build a truly democratic energy system.”

Groups renew call to scrap entire Vermont Gas pipeline project in wake of Phase II cancellation

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Cross-Posted from Rising Tide Vermont

FRT VT2or Immediate Release: February 10 2015

Contact:
Rebecca Foster, Just Power, 646-468-3511
Maeve McBride, 350Vermont, 802-999-2820
Keith Brunner, Rising Tide Vermont, 802-363-9615

Groups renew call to scrap entire Vermont Gas pipeline project in wake of Phase II cancellation

Today a coalition of organizations including Just Power, Rising Tide Vermont, 350Vermont and Toxics Action Center renewed calls to cancel all phases of the Vermont fracked gas pipeline, in the wake of an announcement that Vermont Gas will no longer proceed with Phase II.

The coalition is calling on the Vermont Public Service Board to revoke the Certificate of Public Good for Phase I in light of the near doubling of Phase I costs, the stark climate impacts of fracked gas, and impacts on landowners in the path of the pipeline. Yesterday, the PSB was given permission by the Vermont Supreme Court to undertake a review of the Phase I permit with no time or scope constraints. The groups are calling on the Board to execute a rigorous review of all aspects of the project given the change in the landscape since the initial filing.

Cornwall resident and impacted landowner Mary Martin said, “Today’s announcement is the culmination of years of conversations with neighbors and making our voices heard. While we’re relieved that Phase II is cancelled, we can’t stand idly by and watch our neighbors in Monkton and other towns who are fighting Phase I. Today we’re celebrating, but our fight is not over until the whole project is cancelled. If the costs are too high for IP, then they’re too high for the state of Vermont.”

“The house of fossil fuel cards is falling.” said Maeve McBride, coordinator of 350Vermont, “The cancellation of this pipeline is yet another example of a reckless, misguided fossil fuel project that succumbed to people power and practicalities. In the last few days, we’ve seen a tar sands export terminal near Quebec City cancelled and the Norwegian Sovereign Wealth Fund has pledged to divest billions of dollars from coal and tar sands companies.”

Shaina Kasper, Vermont Community Organizer with Toxics Action Center, an environmental and public health non-profit, called the decision a huge step in the right direction. “We’ve known all along that this pipeline was a bad investment for Vermont’s energy future, and we’re glad Vermont Gas finally agrees,” Kasper said. “We hope the next step is to abandon the entire project so that we can invest in clean energy and a shift away from polluting fossil fuels.”

International Paper had always been the primary beneficiary of this pipeline expansion, and the primary customer of VGS. Now that IP has decided this is a poor investment and has withdrawn from the project, the groups are concerned Vermont ratepayers will be required to pay for the additional $30 million shortfall for Phase I.

Burlington resident and VGS ratepayer Devon Ayers joined the call to scrap Phase I, arguing that “I can’t afford to pay another dime on top of my family’s already sky high heating costs, especially for a fossil fuel project which threatens the world my son will grow up in.”

“Today’s announcement is a victory for grassroots organizing and our growing people’s movement in Vermont,” said Sara Mehalick, a volunteer organizer with Rising Tide Vermont. “From workers’ rights to migrant justice, and human rights to climate justice, today’s decision reaffirms that social movements have the power to change what’s politically possible.”

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NOTES FOR EDITORS

1] Total IP contribution ($135 million) – Phase 2 cost ($105) = IP’s Phase I contribution ($30 million). Based on most recent cost estimates from the VGS press release on Feb. 10th 2015: “Our updated cost estimate for Phase 2 is now $105 million…” said Jim Sinclair, Vermont Gas’ Vice President for System Expansion.  Under the agreement between Vermont Gas and IP, this would mean that IP’s total financial responsibility to Vermont Gas for Phase 2 as well as Phase 1 improvements would have risen from $99 million to $135 million.”

BREAKING: Rising Tide Vermont, Addison County Residents, Stage Sit-In at Public Service Board Demanding a Halt to Pipeline Construction

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RT VT 34Montpelier, VT – Landowners and climate activists opposed to the Vermont Fracked Gas pipeline staged a sit-in today at the Department of Public Service, calling on the agency and the Public Service Board to suspend pipeline construction until they address possible widespread hazardous soil and water contamination along the proposed pipeline route.

“We’re here to let the Department and the Board know that without adequate intervention, pipeline construction threatens to disturb soils contaminated with hazardous chemicals,” said Jonathan Shapiro, of Rising Tide Vermont.

The demonstrators, including several Monkton landowners who live along the proposed pipeline route, are concerned that pipeline construction along the VELCO corridor could expose more people and water to contaminated soils.

Dangerous levels of Pentachlorophenol (PCP), a wood preservative used to treat utility poles, showed up in a Monkton resident’s drinking water last month. [1] The contamination was caused by VELCO maintenance work in preparation for the proposed fracked gas pipeline.

PCP is classified as a probable human carcinogen. [2] Short-term exposure can cause ear, eye and respiratory irritation, and lead to liver and kidney complications.  A bill to regulate treated utility poles was introduced in the Vermont legislature in 2012, due to previous cases of PCP contamination in the state. [3]

Over twenty-five Monkton residents also plan to file a motion with the Board today, requesting that they investigate the issue of contamination. Monkton resident Selena Peyser submitted a similar request to the Board on May 7. The Board has not responded to this request at all.

“I’m deeply concerned that pipeline construction could expose toxic soil, and the state agencies charged with protecting the public from this sort of thing are sweeping our concerns under the rug,” said Maren Vasatka, a Monkton homeowner. Vasatka is currently embroiled in a battle with Vermont Gas over an easement to run the pipeline through her property, along the VELCO corridor.

Over 20 miles of the pipeline route runs alongside the VELCO corridor in Chittenden and Addison counties. The recent contamination incident in Monkton raises concerns about contamination along the rest of the corridor.

“I can’t imagine why the Public Service Board, Department of Public Service and Vermont Gas would want to risk poisoning water instead of taking time to perform adequate testing,” Vasatka said.

The demonstrators, who planned to maintain the sit-in until the Board or the Department of Public Service agreed to pursue the matter, drew connections to larger issues of soil and water contamination caused by fracking.

“From the frackfields of Alberta to the farmland of Addison County, fracking infrastructure is threatening our land, water and our health,” Shapiro said.

Rising Tide urged supporters to attend the upcoming public hearing on Phase 2 of the pipeline this Thursday, June 12, at 7 pm at Middlebury High School.

[1] Tainted water leads to Addison County concern. http://www.mychamplainvalley.com/story/d/story/tainted-water-leads-to-addison-county-concern/15072/GBXJ8B5ir0-vrcu2GrSZKg

[2] US EPA. Registration Eligibility Decision for Pentachlorophenol. http://www.epa.gov/oppsrrd1/REDs/pentachlorophenol_red.pdf

[3] Vermont Department of Health (2009). Pentachlorophenol contamination of private drinking water from treated utility poles

Climate justice activists blockade Vermont Gas headquarters in protest of fracked gas pipeline

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sara vtClimate justice activists have blockaded the main entrance to Vermont Gas’s headquarters and dropped a massive banner from the roof, demanding the company immediately cancel its plans to build the fracked gas pipeline.  Police are on scene, and the company’s retail offices are effectively shut down for the day.

Sara Mehalick, a resident of Plainfield, Vermont, has locked her neck to the main entrance of the building, effectively blockading the doors shut.  She released a statement about why she undertook today’s action:

Today I’m taking action because Vermont Gas is intent upon shackling our communities to fossil fuels, and condemning us to irreversible climate change.  We have a responsibility to the communities whose land, water, and air are being poisoned by fracking, and we’re determined to make sure that this fracked gas pipeline does not move forward.  Today we’re here to tell Vermont Gas to cancel their construction plans, or expect to see growing resistance.

RT VT2Jonathan Shapiro, with Rising Tide Vermont, said “Climate change is already driving heat waves, torrential rains, and flooding in the Northeast, which is only predicted to worsen in the coming years.  In this context of mounting climate crisis, building new fossil fuel infrastructure is an exercise in complete lunacy and must be stopped.”