Important Homes

Why are some houses more important than others? I understand that buildings that house many different families have a higher impact when it comes to destruction and personal loss. But in the natural gas planning process certain areas are identified High Consequence Areas, meaning that those areas that have the densest population receive the highest attention, and the greatest protection. That makes sense, but does it mean that other areas should receive inferior protection?

High Consequence Areas, referred to as HCA’s, include areas of dense population, areas that include water supplies and those of unique environmental importance. These areas are deemed “more important,” and are scheduled to receive the highest quality pipes, equipment and attention. But I put to the appropriate authorities, where do they think the water supply comes from?

Reservoirs and water tanks do not usually include underwater springs, though ours in Ashburnham does. For most cities and towns, including the metro-Boston area, their water supply comes from rivers and watersheds many miles away. In fact, for Lowell, the Quabbin Reservoir cities, Wachusett Reservoir towns, and others in New England, the water in their municipal water supplies come from the “rural areas” north and west of Boston. The concept of “crucial water supply,” needs to be more correct than simply a water tower or a reservoir. Our homes, those of the “Blasted Towns,” are just as vital as urban areas, though our density may be sparser.

In the national news we hear repeatedly about how many homes are lost during wildfire seasons, and while these are terribly sad losses, these are people who knew they lived in a place subject to wildfires. I grew up in the Midwest, so I knew that tornadoes were a risk for me. For those who choose to live in the Mississippi River bottom land, they should know that they are living on an active floodplain. That’s why those who farmed there before them usually used the land for crops or livestock, but kept their houses on higher ground. But the current need for “waterfront property,” has gotten in the way of realism. With the current rise in floods and storms, these people are having to make adjustments to include the realities of nature.

But for those of us in the Blasted Towns we built or bought our homes wishing to live in a more rural area. Not because we’re anti-social, but because we appreciate the gifts of the land, and the sense of community that is often found in these smaller towns. We did not buy, or build, with the idea that the land we struggle to grow things in would be blown out from under us, by an energy company who wants to avoid denser population while they raise more millions of dollars selling natural gas overseas.

Why is it okay for a company in Texas to come into another area and destroy the natural resources of those areas, so that they can profit off the natural resources of another place? Isn’t it time we started valuing and using the resources we have nearby our homes and workplaces, instead of trying to move things around to such detriment? Our forefathers chose to settle in certain areas because there was adequate energy, water and food supply, and they carved out shelter where they could. While I’m not suggesting that people in the Midwest go back to sod houses, we do need to start living within the natural rules of the planet.
The truth is that there is no place that is of less or more significant than any other place. No people, no wildlife, no water is dispensable. The Dept. of Transportation explains HAC’s on their website, but the reality of those statements are that they deem some places more disposable than others.

As we are learning more every day, our planet is getting smaller, and more sickly. While the media and others focus on the economy, the reality is that money won’t make more water, won’t grow trees back to filter soil quickly enough, or replace the lost soil in even an elephant’s lifetime. We don’t have time to wait for others to learn. We need everyone to understand now – The water and air belong to the planet, and they should not go to the highest bidder, or densest population. There is enough, with care, to be shared evenly, but not if we continue to let the energy companies continue to write the rules, run the airwaves and be flexible with the truth.

If you hear about a “cleaner fuel” called gas, or natural gas, please realize that it comes from underground, and it is best left there. It is like methadone for a fossil-fuel addicted planet. It doesn’t solve the problem, it just replaces it with another.
No person’s home is more important than any others. No animal or plant is more important than another. It’s time we accept that there are three kingdoms on Earth, and they aren’t found in atlases. They are plants, animals and protists, not Kinder Morgan, BP and Exxon. Stand with your neighbors, of all species, and protect your home by working to stop energy expansion and promote renewable energy, personal conservation and industry responsibility for maintenance. That is within our power, the kind of power that is endless, and renewable!

Funds over Facts

It’s amazing how the thought of money seems to cloud a person’s hearing. In fact, it seems to ave effected the hearing of the entire New England States Committee on Energy (NESCOE.) Despite information sent to them by the Conservation Law Foundation, recent information from several studies linking fracking and pipelines with illnesses, seismic disruption and animal deaths. It also seems to be ignoring a recent study done by the energy industry stating the need for natural gas is not rising, and that many fracking sites and drilling operations have been shut down because they aren’t cost effective. But NESCOE recently responded to CLF’s attorneys, ignoring their comments and re-asserting the need for additional natural gas.

Why? Because for two weeks in the past winter there has been a shortage of natural gas to heat homes. This amount of energy could be created through several different mechanisms without burying hundreds of miles of pipeline. A simple request to conserve, as is frequently done during heat waves, water shortages and other temporary lulls, is the easiest way. In addition, increasing the amount of energy created by solar power, wind power, or a long term look at the myriads of micro-hydropower sources that dot New England’s countryside, are much more feasible, renewable and sustainable methods of creating that power.
The story of the pipeline has started to get more publicity, through a recent article in the Boston Globe, and one on the Associated Press wire, but we need people to understand the underlying issue. This is not about providing energy to poor, deprived residents. This is about bringing money into the pockets of people like Kinder Morgan. These corporations are destroying farm land, and families, by their hydro-fracking, and want to bring that produce through the pristine lands of Northern Massachusetts. They say it will bring jobs, but only short term jobs, which will most likely be filled by their own, already employed, workers. They say it will lower our electric rates, but since we’ll be paying for the pipeline’s construction out of a tariff on our power, our rates will actually rise.

And why are the energy companies pulling back on exploration and drilling in some parts of the country? Because the gas leaks are so substantial the fields are “playing out,” sooner than they expected. The Marcellus Shale, the reservoir that Kinder Morgan will be piping through New England, is expected to be past profitability status by 2020. The pipeline won’t even be completed until 2018, if it goes through on schedule. After that time, what will come through? Probably oil, or the pipelines could just sit there, venting the Marcellus gas throughout New England, and they have no obligation to clean it up.
How does it come to happen that a government agency can so ignore the facts, and the wishes of its constituents in favor of the Texan voices? Because they don’t hear the voices of the people loud enough. Ms. Berwick’s husband is running for Massachusetts Governor, and his platform states that he is for” renewable energy and environment goals,” (from his campaign’s website.) He says he wants Massachusetts to be the first Carbon Neutral state, yet his wife is still a proponent of this pipeline that is not renewable, nor environmentally sound.

We need people to voice their opinions about the importance of the environment, alongside the need for required energy sources. The two are not at odds with each other, IF we think of the environment as we assess our needs. Air, water, food and security are not any less required than heat or power. We can change the way our country grows, but not if we keep looking to the same set of tools to build with.
If our country and our planet are going to be sustainable, we need to use our personal energy, and voices to add to the power sources that push us to more sustainable energy and choices. We can’t let the rustle of money and the comfiness of safety override the true need for sustainable energy, responsiveness to the voters and continuation of our planet and our lives .

What are we fussing about?

Those of in the Blasted Towns want to make sure you realize that our problem with the TPG pipeline is not because it’s in our backyard. It’s because it’s in ANYONE’s backyard.

I’m going to break this down into several parts because it is not a simple issue. I’ll just take one area here. This area of the Commonwealth, like the areas in New York State, is the headwaters of water supplies for good sized cities. In my town alone, we are in the watershed headwaters for the Souhegan River, a river that serves southern New Hampshire leading up to Milford, NH, and on to the Merrimack, which flows to the Atlantic Ocean. We also have the Millers River, which flows west to the Pioneer Valley, providing water to Massachusetts’ richest growing soil, and winds up in the Connecticut River. We also have the beginnings of the Nashua River, which flows through Fitchburg and eventually winds up in Nashua, joining with the Merrimack River. The Merrimack is the water source for Nashua, NH, Lowell, Lawrence and many other Massachusetts cities. So damaging the quality of the clean water up here will effect both the quality of the water that reaches these cities, and possibly the amounts.
Kinder Morgan states that they plan to bury the pipeline up to 30’ down, and intend to go UNDER the Connecticut River, which at one place is listed as being 99 feet deep. The problem with this idea – bedrock. The Northern Tier of Massachusetts is granite, as any farmer can tell you, or any contractor who tried to build a house. “The biggest crop in Mass is rocks,” is often heard in agricultural sectors. When you want to get down more than a foot in these areas you often meet resistance, as in ledge. The only answer for this level of resistance is blasting, across more than 100 miles of rocky ledge Massachusetts.

What happens when pipelines cross through wetlands and areas that hold ground water? According to the National Institutes of Health in their 2010 report on pipeline construction in China:
“Moreover, pipeline crossing construction is shown to not only compromise with the integrity of the physical and chemical nature of fish habitat, but also to affect biological habitat and fish behavior and physiology (Lévesque and Dubé 2007), which will result in the avoidance movement of fish, altered distribution of populations (Newcombe and Jensen 1996) and reduce population size and species. Acipenser schrencki, Huso dauricus andBrachymystax lenok are national key protected animals (level II), which are facing extinction. They distribute in Huma River National Protection Reserve, which is the only high latitude and cold temperate zone provincial nature reserve of aquatic wildlife in China. B. lenok and Lota lota are main protection objectives of Pangu River Nature Reserve, which is the national fish genetic resources reserve in the high latitude cold zone. The disturbance or damage of pipeline construction or operation on these fish species are significant loss of geography and ichthyology. Moreover, Huma River is an important breeding site of Oncorhynchus keta, which is the endemic species of Amur-Heilong River basin. The altered water quality may cause the reduced yield of O. keta. Although the disturbances of pipeline construction are not long-term, the altered fish population distribution and movement cannot be recovered in short-term.” (Effects of Pipeline Construction on Wetland Ecosystems: Russia–China Oil Pipeline Project (Mohe-Daqing Section; http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3357716/)
Yes, this is in China, but it’s the same planet. This is an area dotted with trout streams, as well as clean water. Our rocks harbor not only precious drinking water, but also reservoirs of arsenic and radon, which can be released into the water, or the air, as those deposits are disturbed.

The proposed route for the TPG Northeast Expansion, or as it’s called now, the Northeast Energy Direct program, goes under and through numerous bodies of water. It also will cross through many miles of granite and other ledge which protect aquifers, reservoirs and existing wells. While the issue of need will be discussed later, please remember that of all the water in the WORLD, only 1% is drinkable, fresh water. With the rate we’re using water for carbonated beverages, fracking, cooling and other unnecessary projects, how long will our water hold out? Where will you get your water when the rivers that feed the reservoirs starts to contain contaminants such as we protect up here in These Blasted Towns.