VCE Weekly Update

Governor Dean on the Pipeline Project

Vermonters for a Clean Environment has received no response to last week's letter to Governor Howard Dean (with copies to Commissioner of Public Service Sedano and Secretary of Agency of Natural Resources Scott Johnstone) requesting that the state take action to bring the gas project to a close.

In the meantime, the following is a transcription of Governor Dean's reply to a Tuesday, Aug. 1, Bennington Tonite question about the project:

Question: "What communications have you had with the New York power company to end it and what other efforts have you taken to protect my children and my community and other people's children from this dangerous, environmentally dangerous, project?"

Governor Dean: " Well as far as I know the pipeline is dead, I have no reason to know anything else. No one has communicated with me in any way that they're interested in pursuing this. I don't believe the backers who were pushing this for a long time have any backing or any following. I took my cue from the voters. I came to Arlington in the spring and told them I would no longer support this pipeline because I heard from the voters of Arlington, Manchester, Dorset, Danby, and Mount Tabor, all of which the pipeline would have to go through that they didn't want the pipeline. I'm not going to pursue any state support of a pipeline that doesn't have the support of 5 of the 7 or 8 towns it would have to go through. So as far as I'm concerned the pipeline is dead, now if many people, you know it's a free country and if somebody wants to say it's not dead they can say what they want of course they're entitled to their opinion but the state will not pursue this, they will not promote it and we will not support it.

"I'm not saying I don't want it, I mean I think there are some, I don't agree with the position that it's an environmental danger, I think natural gas is a lot better than coal fired and I think there were some benefits to it. But all I'm saying is I hear from the voters and the way that the Act 250 process works in this state is that all, if all 5 towns along the route is going to oppose this, there's no chance this is going to be built. So why should I beat my head against the wall, if there needs to be a different solution, let's look at a different solution. I had a very nice note from Annette Smith the other day saying maybe there's a way that can do this that makes more sense. Fine. This pipeline is not going to go along the route that these people are proposing because everybody that I know of seems to be opposed to it and I'm not going to support something that everybody is opposed to."