It has been more than nine months since the peaceful villages of Danby and Tinmouth got a jolt in the form of the proposal to blast, dig and clear-cut a utility corridor for a natural gas transmission pipeline through our beautiful valleys. We still have trouble believing it, and hope that one day soon we will awaken to find it was all a bad nightmare that is over.

The southwest corner of the state is considered by some residents to be "the best kept secret in Vermont". Danby, Tinmouth, Clarendon, Pawlet, and Rupert, among others, are home to The Real Vermont. Dairy farms, maple sugaring operations, loggers, hunters, fishing; traditional Vermont living in harmony with second homes. We are succeeding. People plant large gardens, trade vegetables, work too hard, look out for their neighbors, and value our exceptional quality of life over just about everything else, even money.

This place is so special it is the signature photo of Vermont on the Governor's web page in full color. Brand Name "Vermont" is stamped right on the picture of the Danby Four Corners Valley.

Now we face a new threat, as unbelievable as the natural gas pipeline proposal. This time it is in the form of OMYA [of Plüss-Staufer AG - Omya Mineralische Füllstoffe], the privately-owned Swiss company that is suing the state to put more trucks on the roads between Florence and Middlebury. Because of the decision limiting the number of trucks allowed to travel that route, OMYA is eager to get more product to their processing plant in Florence. The product is calcium carbonate, used as a filler in paint, among other things.

OMYA owns a wooded mountainside running north/south in the Danby Four Corners valley, up to the Tinmouth border. This is where they plan to get more product for their mill. Clear-cut the trees, strip back the "over-burden", blast and dig. The mineral deposit is pure and deep. This open pit strip mining operation would go on for 50 years or more. And they plan to start soon. Blasting, bulldozing, digging, trucking; dust, silt, diesel fumes, noise. Big heavy tractor-trailer sized dump trucks on back country roads. We can expect an Act 250 permit application filing this winter.

OMYA's plans became clearer this week because of contact by an OMYA employee with the Tinmouth Planning Commission. They are analyzing all possible truck routes north to Florence. They plan to start "small", 40 trucks a day (and 40 empty trucks back). The possible routes are to run 20 trucks out through Wallingford and Rutland, and 20 trucks through Tinmouth, Ira, and West Rutland. Or down the Brook Road through Danby Village. Would they put it on rail cars from there?

We are stunned. Danby and Tinmouth are the two towns where citizens voted against accepting the natural gas pipeline. We had public hearings that were well attended, people asked intelligent questions and became informed about the issues and the companies proposing the project. Danby voted no, we don't want it, 185 to 52. Tinmouth voted no, unanimously, 85 to 0. We are exercising our rights in a democracy.

OMYA's timing couldn't be worse. We are raw, bruised from the disruption to our lives for the better part of a year, losing that which is most precious to us, the quality of our lives based on freedom. Now, yet another multi-national, multi-billion dollar corporation has entered our lives. "This whole situation seems to be getting out of hand," wrote a Tinmouth resident this week.

It doesn't take any lengthy analysis to understand the World Trade Organization protests. We are living the issues: indigenous populations and the environment versus global economic development too big for Vermont. "Now we are the Indians," say native Vermonters.