To the Editor:
I’m shocked that so few of my neighbors have heard of the Granite Bridge, not a charming stone structure but a proposed 27-mile Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) pipeline that would run along Route 101. Liberty Utilities, a multi-billion-dollar corporation based in Ontario, wants to build this pipeline along with a 200-billion-cubic foot LNG storage tank in West Epping. If you want to know how big that is, picture the huge rainbow tank along Route 93 in Boston. That one is 140 feet tall; the Liberty tank would be 150-170 feet tall.
Supporters, including most of our current and aspiring state legislators, seem to imagine that this project is going to bring us a huge windfall. Who wouldn’t love to believe this? And yet you can look at what happened in Seabrook, where the nuclear plant hasn’t delivered as promised; or in Epping, where people hoped the arrival of Walmart and many other big businesses would lighten our tax load, and they have done anything but.
The Building and Construction Trades Council, meanwhile, says Granite Bridge will bring New Hampshire some 330 construction jobs. I have huge respect for our labor unions, but these are short-term jobs in a state that already has a significant labor shortage. Why would we not want more secure employment opportunities in sustainable infrastructure?
Still other supporters say that we need this pipeline because we need more energy. But a recent study from the Carsey School of Public Policy showed just the opposite: that New England is becoming more energy efficient, that our average electricity bills are in fact equal to or even lower than the national average. Do we really want to be a way station for other people’s hunger for fossil fuels and outside businesses’ profit?
Finally, some supporters are promoting the myth that LNG will be “good for the environment.” This is just not true. Natural gas emits less particulate matter and carbon dioxide than other fossil fuels, but it emits loads of methane, an even more powerful greenhouse gas. Natural gas will absolutely contribute to climate change, and the fracking process used to extract it is extremely dangerous, contaminating groundwater and surface water.
The people supporting Granite Bridge may have good intentions, but they have been sold a bill of goods by a huge company that wants to exploit New Hampshire for its own profit. Please educate yourself about Granite Bridge, and don’t let Liberty Utilities ruin our environment, our health, and our economy.
Siobhan Senier
Epping
Learn about Granite Bridge gas project, then oppose it (Seacoastonline)
* Submitted to multiple news outlets.
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