By Thaddeus Flint
The high pressure fracked-gas pipeline that the Kinder Morgan company wants to put through Stephentown was once again the major focus of discussion at the February Stephentown Board meeting on Monday.
“This isn’t a public hearing,” pointed out Town Supervisor Larry Eckhardt. But it might as well have been. [private]The 68 residents and neighboring townspeople were obviously not braving the zero degree night to hear the latest statistics on the Town’s transfer station. They wanted to talk about the pipeline and make sure those they elected to keep the town running knew that they didn’t want it running with high pressure gas streaming under their feet.
Eckhardt says he is aware of their concerns. “I wake up thinking about this,” he said. He’s received written letters, phone calls, and personal contact with many. “And I have received tons of emails.” So many emails, in fact that he is still going through them.
Eckhardt and the rest of the Board have been going over the information available to them. The problem is, there is a lot of it. The towns of Stephentown, Nassau, and Schodack are going to be provided with legal counsel and an engineer by Rensselaer County to better aid them in figuring out a course of action to take in regard to the pipeline that could one day follow the National Grid right-of-way just north of Route 43 across Stephentown and into Hancock.
One problem would seem to be Kinder Morgan itself. The company doesn’t inspire a lot of trust among the local residents who came to this meeting. The company has held its own public meetings where they serve cookies and smile and talk about the safety of pipeline technology.
“You will be on the energy fore-front!” was what one Kinder Morgan executive told resident Bill Jackson when he went to one of these information sessions. Jackson wanted to know what exactly he would be getting in return for allowing possibly carcinogenic tainted explosive gas to run under his property. Being on the energy fore-front, whatever that was, didn’t seem like all that great a trade-off.
This drew a big laugh from the crowd in Stephentown. Jackson’s discussion with Kinder Morgan would have made a great comedy sketch, if it hadn’t been real, and if what he had been trying to discuss hadn’t been so important to those who had gone to ask them. The answers to Jackson’s legitimate questions bordered on the absurd. Does Kinder Morgan really expect residents will believe that their computer monitoring system “can’t be hacked?” Or that the compressor stations will be secure because they will have “fences around it with padlocks?” Or that the system will be adequately monitored by a guy “down in Houston who keeps an eye on everything?”
“Do not trust Kinder Morgan for anything,” warned resident Thom Pecoraro. Pecoraro was one of several members of the Stop NY Fracked Gas Pipeline (SNYFGP) group in attendance. SNYFGP has been following the intended advance of the pipeline since it first targeted Chatham, Canaan, and New Lebanon. SNYFGP has been saying all along that Kinder Morgan is just trying to sell their product and in doing so, will pretty much say anything. “In the end, nothing is true,” added Pecoraro.
“Those open houses,” the ones where Kinder Morgan tells people that they will be on the “energy fore-front”, are “really just public relations events,” said resident and SNYFGP member John Serio. “They are not to help people with their concerns.”
Some would say they are not to help anyone at all except those holding the meetings. Kinder Morgan execs aren’t serving cookies and punch to a bunch of grumpy people because they think they might change their minds. They are doing it because they have to. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) requires the company to hold public meetings before they file with FERC for a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity.
And while the key words of that certificate are “convenience” and “necessity”, it would appear that neither really apply to residents of Stephentown. The gas must not be a necessity for them because they aren’t getting any. “It’s not going to benefit New York State,” pointed out Serio. SNYFGP and other groups are arguing that it’s not even going to benefit the U.S., that it’s very clear the pipeline is intended to get gas overseas where it can be sold for a larger profit.
And how convenient would it be for residents to suffer the installation and danger of a pipeline they don’t want?
“They couldn’t pay us a million dollars to make it worth it,” said resident Eric McCumber. “It’s going to fail.” McCumber said he has worked with these kinds of pipes while doing construction. They are thin and above the frost line and would be put in by outsiders who wouldn’t have to face the effects of a failure. Add to that the lack of odor in the gas to detect by smell that there is a leak. “They don’t put the odor in because we are expendable. We don’t count,” he said.
Eckhardt noted that these are “very legitimate concerns.” The Board, however, is still trying to gather and process a large amount of often complex information relating to the pipeline. But he added, “if there isn’t any benefit, for what reason are we taking the risk?” Eckhardt pointed out that a resolution was passed at a recent meeting of the Association of Towns requiring gas pipeline owners to provide infrastructure to the towns it passes through.
“That does not satisfy us!” said Serio, to a roar of agreement from his fellow residents. Nobody seemed to believe Kinder Morgan would ever follow through with what it promised once the pipeline was built, and besides that, nobody seemed to want the pipeline even if they did follow through and give them some kind of access to the gas. “That’s not what your constituents want,” said Serio.
What the constituents want will soon be heard at a public hearing. At the suggestion of Council member P.J. Roder, and with all in agreement, it was passed that a public hearing be held on the proposed pipeline at the Stephentown Fire Hall on March 23 at 7 pm.
In the meantime, the Board can study a draft resolution provided to them by resident and SNYFGP member Sandy Nathan. SNYFGP would like the Town to formally resolve to oppose the pipeline and demand that FERC deny a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity to Kinder Morgan for the project.
“At some point you have to make a decision,” said Nathan. “The earlier we can show them it’s not going to pay off, the better off we all will be.”
As Eckhardt noted from the beginning, this was supposed to be a Board meeting, not a public hearing. While the pipeline took over the majority of the night, there was some Town business as well.
Clearing Snow Costs Money
The winter is taking a toll on Stephentown, as it is on many other Towns across the State. “We get the snow for free but it costs us a lot in fuel,” said Council member Roder during a reading of the bills. Some of these costs included $4,421 for diesel fuel, $5,965 for rock salt, and $1,133 for ice control, as well as $3,480 for plowing. The Town’s electric costs have also “got a little out of hand,” said Eckhardt who added that he hopes to switch from Ambit Energy to another supplier “by the end of the week” in an effort to keep those costs in check.
The Board, also Monday night, appointed Owen Cassavaugh as Deputy Town Clerk with all in favor. While the Deputy Town Clerk position received three letters of application, there was less desire from residents for a position on the Zoning Board of Appeal. Eckhardt urged those residents concerned with the future of their town to apply for the position. “I see a whole room full of potential applicants tonight,” he laughed.[/private]