Power Plants and Pipelines Intend to Move Forward
Strip Mine Opposed
by Annette Smith (Executive Director of Vermonters for a Clean Environment, Inc.)
New York Power Plant
Tom Macaulay is continuing work on a 520 MW power plant in Glenville, New York. He has not yet filed an application, but is engaged in holding a series of public meetings as required by New York state law.
The most recent meeting was held on August 23, 2000. What follows is the transcript of Macaulay's statements regarding his Vermont power plant plans:
Audience: Can you give us some general background on why your project was defeated in Vermont? Was it public outcry? Environmental? Can you give us some background?
Tom Macaulay: With regard to the Vermont project, it was never turned down because we never filed an application, and we intend to proceed with that after we have finished doing our work here in Glenville.
Audience: How many towns voted on the pipeline, they voted unanimously not to have the pipelines come through the towns in referendums?
Tom Macaulay: Well one town voted unanimously and several other towns voted heavily against it, but as I said at the last meeting, that pipeline route that was suggested to us by the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation is not the only route by which gas could be brought to the two projects that we're proposing in Vermont, and so what we would do when we proceed with that is look at what the alternatives are and determine whether the host communities would be willing to host a pipeline through other routes.
In other words what I'm saying to you is that when we sat down with the Department of Environmental Conservation in Vermont, they suggested a route that didn't follow a major highway. It followed a relatively small power line through some fairly mountainous territory. Whether that was a good decision or a bad decision, the host communities felt that they were getting very little value from just a pipeline. This was not the power plants, just the pipeline, and with that 60 mile route there were concerns for safety and environmental issues that the towns didn't like. And so in nonbinding votes the towns said we don't like this particular route. But it is not the only way we can get gas to Vermont, so to answer your question, were we ever turned down in Vermont? No we never even made an application. Can we proceed with our project in the future? The answer is certainly yes, we intend to.
Clean Air Meeting
Vermont's Committee to Ensure Clean Air meets for the first time on Wednesday, September 6 in the afternoon. The committee is charged with looking at large stationary sources of nitrogen oxides (NOx), such as power plants, and evaluating a proposed NOx waiver that could be used as a tool to offset stationary sources of NOx by reducing mobile sources.
Pipeline Safety Legislation
The passage of Pipeline Safety Legislation is a primary goal as Congress returns to Washington this week. Fuel Safe Washington ( www.fuelsafewashington.org) will be releasing a book called "Out of Sight Out of Mind No More" and will be holding a press conference on Capitol Hill on September 7th. The experiences of the citizens of Vermont are documented in the book in a section by Annette Smith entitled "Vermont: Pipeline Myths versus Reality".
Expediting the Siting of New Pipelines
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has issued a draft strategic plan for fiscal years 2000-2005. One of its most important objectives is to "foster a regulatory environment that facilitates the responsible development of transportation capacity to meet potential increase in market demand for natural gas to 25 Tcf in 2005 and 30 Tcf in 2010.
FERC intends to reduce completion time targets for new pipelines in order to "get gas where it's needed most". A copy of the draft plan is available at: www.ferc.fed.us/public/strategic/strategicplan.htm
FERC will initiate an outreach program and VCE has communicated with FERC about participating in the meeting scheduled in Albany on September 26.
We have not achieved any results.
VCE Announces Opposition to OMYA's proposal to open a strip mine in Danby
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 4, 2000
Vermonters for a Clean Environment (VCE) announces its opposition to OMYA's proposal to open a calcium carbonate strip mine in Danby Four Corners.
In partnership with the Towns of Tinmouth and Middletown Springs, VCE will represent the interests of the people of the region who stand together in strong opposition to OMYA's proposal to strip away the overburden, blast and dig, truck and crush enough material to fill 40 trucks every day, 6 days a week throughout the year, and drive tractor-trailer-sized dump trucks the 60 mile round-trip over narrow, winding roads to OMYA's factory in Florence. It is the opinion of VCE and the majority of citizens in this area that 80 trucks per day on the back roads of Vermont far exceeds anyone's expectation of what is reasonable here in Vermont.
To prepare for OMYA's Act 250 permit application, VCE, Tinmouth and Middletown Springs have engaged legal counsel and will have experts prepared to testify on the issues.
VCE has researched and evaluated OMYA's proposal that was sent to Danby's Selectboard and Planning Commission in January of this year. We have determined that OMYA has no plan to get the crushed marble "plant feed" to their factory. Additionally, we believe that OMYA will not be able to satisfy many of Act 250's criteria, especially aesthetics. As proposed, their plan does not clearly demonstrate that they will not have an unduly harmful impact upon the environment or surrounding land uses and development.
OMYA's proposal will be economically viable for OMYA, but not for those who live and work in Danby. Property values are already being impacted by the proposal, some sales have fallen through, and the time, money and energy of the people of the region are being drained by OMYA's poorly planned proposal.
Vermonters for a Clean Environment is nonprofit organization and is eligible to accept tax-deductible contributions to fight OMYA.
Contributions that we receive will be used to represent the people of the region. The people know the facts, they know what OMYA intends to do, and VCE, a people's organization, is committed to doing whatever it takes to insure that one of the most beautiful valleys in Vermont is not lost forever.
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Vermonters for a Clean Environment, Inc.
789 Baker Brook Road, Danby, VT 05739
(802) 446-2094 || vce@sover.net || www.vtce.org