by Thaddeus Flint
It was standing room only at the New Lebanon fire house last Thursday as representatives of Kinder Morgan – the company that wants to put a new high pressure gas pipeline through the area – met publicly with residents for the first time since the project has come to light.
[private]“They are slick,” was how Becky Meir of Canaan viewed the amiable group of Kinder Morgan executives who had come to talk about the new pipeline that would carry natural gas from the fracking fields of the Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania through the area and into New England power plants. “They act like they are your friends. But they aren’t.”
Meir has already attended several of these meetings with Kinder Morgan execs at various Towns in Massachusetts since she herself organized the first local discussion of the project at the Canaan Congregational Church back in June.
Since then opposition to the project has grown. Residents are concerned that the new pipeline will bring with it new risks that the old pipelines currently in the area don’t already have. Those opposing the pipeline believe that trace chemicals of the fracking procedure could follow gas and possibly leak into the environment. It is known that some of these chemicals can cause cancer. The new pipeline would be under much higher pressure than the old ones, and an accident could be catastrophic to the local area. There is also concern that a new pressure station might be built in New Lebanon and could vent gases and chemicals, all the while spewing noise into the homes of those unlucky enough to find themselves suddenly living next to an industrial behemoth that hadn’t been there when they bought their homes.
Those opposed to the pipeline started a group called Stop NY Fracked Gas Pipeline (SNYFGP). They have been trying to get Kinder Morgan to come give their side of the story for months now. They also have asked the Town of New Lebanon to pass a symbolic resolution saying that the Town is against the project. New Lebanon Town Supervisor Mike Benson is against the resolution, but he was for getting Kinder Morgan to come and give their side of the story.
The problem with Kinder’s side of the story is that they are a huge multi-billion dollar corporation run by one of the few heads at Enron that didn’t go to jail. Even if they are telling the truth, not many people are going to believe them or even care what their story is.
Kinder is obviously aware of this so they make sure they do some good things too. They have a children’s foundation and give money to police and fire departments. “Kinder Morgan believes in being a good corporate citizen,” said the company’s manager of public affairs, Matt Abdifar.
A few people scoffed out loud at that. Nobody was there to hear Kinder laud themselves. What they wanted to know was whether the pipeline is safe and could any of the surrounding towns get some of that cheap gas?
“The answer is no,” said Kinder Morgan VP for public affairs, Allen Fore, in regard to the possibility of using the gas, “Although no doesn’t necessarily mean never.” Kinder Morgan, said Fore, is just the transporter. They have nothing to do with selling the gas to local distributors. Once the pipeline went through there would obviously be that possibility, but it didn’t sound all that plausible, at least in the short run.
Basically that confirmed what many were thinking: That New Lebanon, Chatham and Canaan were going to get the pipeline and its risks but no gas.
Chatham Town Supervisor Jesse DeGroodt wanted to know about explosions.
“We have a great safety record in New York State,” said Project Manager Mark Hamarich. The pipes are put in below the frost line, and the only real risk of rupturing is if someone should dig down into one. Should that happen, though, Kinder Morgan would not be liable for whatever the resulting explosion and fire might bring. The guy with the shovel might be paying for a new town.
Chatham resident Bob Leary pointed out that there were two pipe thicknesses and that the pipe planned for around here would be the thinner one. “If Kinder Morgan really wanted to be a good neighbor, they would give us all the same size pipe,” he said.
Susan Sedlmayr was also skeptical, accusing the company of “lying to the people.” She has seen what gas line explosions could do from YouTube videos. And residents would “get no benefit” from the gas either. “It’s lose-lose for me and win-win for you,” she said.
And what about those carcinogenic fracking chemicals that would start coming through with all that fracking gas?
“There is no evidence those chemicals come through,” said Hamarich. If that’s true that’s good news because they would already be here then. “A lot of the gas coming through already is fracked gas,” Hamarich added.
The location of the possible pump station also concerned a lot of people. SNYFGP member Bruce Shenker said he believes it will be located somewhere in New Lebanon, but Kinder Morgan principal land specialist Jim Hartman said they had no set location yet. “We only have a range,” he said.
As the “range” of the pipeline in Columbia County is only 10.86 miles and a pump station will almost certainly be needed somewhere in that range, it has to be somewhere near someone from the area.
Hartman pointed out that the pump station would only put out about 55 decibels of sound. That falls into the sound of say an air-conditioner at 100 feet and large electrical transformers at 100 feet.
“But who would want to live near one?” asked Shenker.
“There are people who like to live near one,” Hartman assured the audience which appeared to contain exactly none of those people.
There are some benefits of the project. Bud Godfroy pointed out that if there is no pipeline then the gas would probably have to be shipped by truck to the east coast, and that is far more expensive and dangerous. Tony Murad highlighted all the taxes the towns receive from the pipelines already there. A new pipeline would be expected to only increase that revenue.
Whatever happens is still a long way away. The pipeline is still in the pre-application stage. More information on the project and probably a lot more public feedback is expected when Kinder Morgan holds its next public meeting in the area. This one will be an open house at Green Meadow Elementary School in Schodack from 6 to 8 pm on December 4.[/private]