Monadnock Region NH - MAYOR LANE may not know the consequences of a fracked gas plant in Keene. In fact, he seems to think he can say no to a pipeline after he creates the need and means for one. Did you know that Kinder Morgan was looking at Vernon VT or Hinsdale NH to build an industrial gas plant? Hey, Keene just happens to be on that pipeline route, and now, a willing victim.
In December, I testified in Washington, DC at the National Press Club against the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's (FERC) #FERCabuses along with other pipeline organizations. ECHO Action is helping others to fight what Keene is welcoming in.
The temporary gas plant will provide fuel for the Monadnock Marketplace. Once approved, Liberty Utilities will seek approval for a permanent gas plant and Mayor Lane wants to convert the City of Keene to gas at a time when the world is transitioning to clean, renewable energy.
Keene has a reputation for making wise planning decisions. It has a climate action plan, a climate adaptation plan, a Climate Protection Committee, state-of-the-art recycling center and a food co-op. They seem to be thinking about a healthy future, so what happened?
Mayor Lane was in support of the NED pipeline. Perhaps he thinks the discounted fuel rate being offered is worth selling out Keene's future? One wants to assume he doesn't know the full impact of his decision. Help him become better informed and hope that he and the City Council will reconsider a gas plant in Keene.
Here's how it works. Liberty Utilities offers cities a 10% reduction in fuel rates to cities across New Hampshire and raises rates on their other customers. If you are currently using gas, that's you. The gas industry currently has a glut (excess of gas) and are selling way below normal rates. Businesses will pay to convert, the rate will go up and as we rapidly move to renewable energy, they will be forced to pay to convert again. Businesses should be saving money and serving the community by converting to heat pumps and renewable energy now.
The Monadnock Marketplace gets hooked up for gas with a temporary plant. Liberty Utilities then starts an application for a permanent gas plant. They're not doing this for the benefit of Keene businesses and residents. They have a devious plan.
Once the gas plant is installed and gas contracts have been attained throughout New Hampshire, Liberty Utilities gives Kinder Morgan the thumbs up and they're in your back yard. Yup, that's where the term NIMBY comes from. You realize you should have said something, done something, oh, if you'd only known, and now you're screaming, "Not in my back yard!"
You get upset, call your neighbors and say, "They didn't say they were going to do this. I didn't know." You create groups and have meetings, spend endless hours researching, learning, organizing, not sleeping, stressing about lost property value, spending money on legal defense, worrying about losing your house or the pipeline going next to your child's school or your church, you stand on ice in freezing temps in winter and in the blazing sun in summer with signs. You walk around with petitions and talk all the time, 24/7 about the thing that haunts your dreams - fracked gas pipelines. You wonder how this can be happening. You may even want to sell your house, move away, but who wants a house next to a pipeline?
Here's the good news. The towns along the NED pipeline route have already been through all that. We spent thousands and thousands of dollars on legal defense and signs and tee shirts. We've done it all. We stayed up all night writing letters to FERC and testimony for hearings. We've done it all and you, Keene, can benefit from that. I wouldn't wish that on you, on anyone. That's why we're here, helping you to understand that you can't let this go. You have to take action now, while you still can.
We were fortunate. There weren't enough contracts for the gas, so Kinder Morgan withdrew their application. One year later, they're biting their nails watching Liberty Utilities set it all up for them. Is that something you want to be a part of?
We have met people who can't drink their polluted, toxic water. They can't bathe in it. They have huge plastic water bins in their yard and water delivered to them because theirs is flammable. Their rivers bubble up methane and can catch on fire. When their stipend for water runs out, they are on their own to pay for potable water for drinking, cooking, washing and bathing. The company creates the problem, but they don't solve it. No one wants to be complicit in what's happening to the people who live in the fracking fields.
So why the big pipeline push in New England? For one, fossil fuels are a dying industry. They're trying to latch on to anything they can and keep afloat by trying to lock us into 20-30+ years more of fossil fuels. Come on, even Exxon knows that's a disastrous decision.
The shale deposit in Nova Scotia that has been supplying gas to the states has nearly petered out. A pipeline that used to deliver gas to us from Canada has been reversed. Now they're trying to send fracked gas from PA to Canada and guess who gets to be the carbon corridor? That's right, New England.
Right now, there's an excess (a glut, if you will) of gas, so they can sell, sell, sell at discount prices. They start exporting, the prices go up and whammo, you're wondering where you went wrong. Do your research! It's the 'ol bait and switch. Is that what you want?
The truth of the matter is that heat pumps, biofuels and responsible renewable energy are where it's at. Businesses, haven't you noticed how excited consumers are about clean energy? Isn't that the image you want to portray, a company that cares about the community and makes decisions with them in mind, a good community partner? We hope so.
Mayor Lane has told the City Council and others that "there will be no pipeline". If he and the City of Keene provide the conditions, help create the need for a pipeline, saying no will not stop a pipeline. Ask anyone who lives near one or had their land confiscated through eminent domain. Our representatives in the Senate and Congress can't stop pipelines when fighting FERC, what makes Mayor Lane think he has this authority? He's wrong. If it was that easy, people wouldn't be taking desperate measures like turning their property into a cemetery in an attempt to fight off a pipeline.
Maybe you think that if it gets to that point, you'll worry about it then. These are some quotes from people who used the FERC landowner help line:
Sarah told one caller, “Compressor stations are just big chemical plants. There is no pollution. I don’t know what you’re worried about. I have worked on gas pipelines for FERC for over 30 years and never heard the term blowdown. You have been sold a bill of goods. You need to get off YouTube!” Then she hung up. This was the second person at FERC to tell her blowdowns do not exist.
In case you missed it, there's a link in there and you should check out the video of what a compressor station blowdown is like. It's when toxic, carcinogenic chemicals, many that are trade secrets even the government is unaware of, are released along with methane. These are the planned emissions. You can't see or smell the leaks from compressor stations and pipelines except with a FLIR camera.
The decision to approve a gas plant in Keene should be made with the utmost attention to the consequences of bring a monster of toxic fumes into the community. Three years after the NED pipeline was proposed, I feel certain that Keene residents, businesses and the City Council are not fully aware of the chain of events that is likely to follow an approval of the gas plant and the part they are willingly playing as pawns of Liberty Utilities.
I invite you to look images of gas plants and compressor stations and read more. Whatyou have now in Keene is not what they have planned for you. It's far, far more immense and sinister. Whatever you do, DO NOT take the information given to you by a gas company or pipeline company representative. They have a reputation for showing misleading images and giving misleading information in their favor. At the beginning of the NED pipeline proposal, a small shed was shown at an open house as depicting a compressor station. Liberty Utilities has an agenda and your health, safety and future are not in the plans. Please, do your research, ask questions of knowledgeable people. Your children's health and future are on the line.
A gas plant is not in line with Keene community values and the Keene Climate Action Plan. I ask that you please write an email, make a call to Mayor Kendall Lane and the rest of the City Council today. Write a letter to the editor at the Keene Sentinel. Ask that he not approve the gas plant until a community information forum can be held.
PETITION: Sign now!
🔴 CALL, WRITE, EMAIL, VISIT (script at the bottom of the page)
🔸 1. MAYOR KENDALL LANE
Keene City Hall
3 Washington St., Keene, NH 03431
(603) 357-9805, mayor@ci.keene.nh.us
https://www.ci.keene.nh.us/government/mayor
EMAIL THE MAYOR & CALL CITY COUNCILORS: (Copy & paste)
mayor@ci.keene.nh.us, jmanwaring@ci.keene.nh.us, shooper@ci.keene.nh.us, mgreenwald@ci.keene.nh.us, cjacobs@ci.keene.nh.us, dcrichards@ci.keene.nh.us, tmclark@ci.keene.nh.us, roconnor@ci.keene.nh.us, rsutherland@ci.keene.nh.us, pjones@ci.keene.nh.us, tpowers@ci.keene.nh.us, rfiliault@ci.keene.nh.us, bchadbourne@ci.keene.nh.us, bsapeta@ci.keene.nh.us, ghansel@ci.keene.nh.us, glamoureux@ci.keene.nh.us
🔸 2. FRED MCFADDEN
Property Manager for Monadnock Marketplace
FM@winslowpm.com, FM@sumrp.com
781-674-2020
🔸 3. KATZ PROPERTIES, Boston
Owners of Monadnock Marketplace
80 Hayden Ave, 2nd Floor
Lexington, MA 02421
781.674.2020
ma@katzproperties.com
🔸 4. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR, KEENE SENTINEL
news@keenesentinel.com
KEENE GAS PLANT VIGIL & VOTE
Thursday, June 15th
Keene City Hall
💥 KEENE GAS PLANT VIGIL
5:30 PM - Rain or shine, outside Keene City Hall and at Central Square beginning at 5:30. Bring large signs. Invite friends!
https://www.facebook.com/events/1786376668359700/
💥 CITY COUNCIL MEETING, CLIMATE RESOLUTION & VOTE
7:00 PM - Keene City Hall, 2nd floor
https://www.facebook.com/events/473619689650204/
DIRECTIONS TO KEENE CITY HALL
Keene City Hall is located at 3 Washington Street, next to Luca's Marketplace.
RESOURCES
TENNESSEE GAS CAPACITY EXPANSION (W/KINDER MORGAN)
On May 23, 2017, one year after the NED pipeline was withdrawn, Tennessee Gas (Kinder Morgan) posted a new notice of Open Season for bids for further expansion of its existing pipeline system. No expansion details, maps or specifications are available yet, these most likely being dependent on what contracts they obtain from this Open Season. (HELLO KEENE, THIS MEANS YOU.) The proposal casts a wide net of possibilities, citing the existing 200 Line in Zones 5 & 6 (New York & New England – running from western to southern to eastern MA), capacity connection to the Maritimes and Northeast pipeline, and the possibility of additional compression and new pipeline. https://pipeline2.kindermorgan.com/Notices/NoticeDetail.aspx?code=TGP¬c_nbr=363382
INFORMATION ABOUT THE KEENE GAS PLANT
ECHOaction.org/keene-gas-plant
PIPELINE EDUCATION
ECHOaction.org/pipeline-education
COMPRESSOR STATION/GAS PLANT EMISSIONS CANNOT BE SEEN OR SMELLED, VIEWED HERE WITH A FLIR CAMERA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYdrSe-USxg
LIVING NEAR A COMPRESSOR STATION
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BpLqjR3OrY
NORTHFIELD MA COMPRESSOR STATION PRESENTATION: NED PIPELINE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOVzmMTSkOA
SOUTH DEERFIELD, MA COMPRESSOR STATION PRESENTATION: NED PIPELINE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48PnE8mkBkI
LIST OF THE HARMED
Using gas, creating the need for pipelines makes us complicit in the poisoning of water, air, wildlife, CHILDREN & ADULTS in the fracking fields where they suffer from disease and illness. They cannot get up and move. Who will buy their homes?
https://pennsylvaniaallianceforcleanwaterandair.wordpress.com/the-list/
HOSTS/SUPPORTERS
ECHO Action NH
NH Pipeline Resistance
Climate Rebel Coalition
Post Oil Solutions
Roaring Brook Affinity Group
99th Monkey Affinity Group
CALLING / EMAIL SCRIPT
Feel free to add any of the links about to information about compressor stations and gas plants including those of the presentations by a pediatrician in Northfield & Deerfield MA.
If you know Mayor Lane or someone at City Hall, please speak to them personally. Ask them for a community forum. Thank you!
Mayor Lane,
I don't think you are fully aware of the impact of your decision to approve a gas plant in Keene and to expand gas to Keene business and residential areas. Further, I understand that you have told others you'll say no to a pipeline. Small towns and cities across America are trying to stop pipelines. Believe me, it's not that easy or everyone would be doing it.
Kinder Morgan wanted to place a gas plant in Hinsdale NH or Vernon VT. Keene is an unsuspecting victim to the noise, emissions, health and safety hazards of a compressor station and gas plant.
I ask that you DO NOT APPROVE the Liberty Utilities gas plant request for the Monadnock Marketplace and allow for a community-wide forum to discuss the impacts to Keene and surrounding communities.
Sincerely,
Your Name
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