Bennington Banner
Editorial
May 14, 1999

Vermont has enough hoops to jump through

Annette Smith is a one-woman wrecking crew who has made it her mission to derail a proposed gas pipeline project for southwest Vermont. Now she wants the state to hire someone to take the task over from her. This is a suggestion worthy of being mounted high in the Pantheon of Truly Bad Ideas.

To begin with, the state of Vermont ought not be in the business of hiring advocates either for or against proposals that its public officials are considering. That's a clear conflict of interest.

Second, anyone seeking to launch a commercial venture in Vermont already has to jump through enough hoops to satisfy the most anti-business Vermonter available. There are enough public hearings, in front of enough boards, agencies and commissions, to discourage all but the most stout-hearted potential entrepreneur.

And if the picking of ever-so-fine nits by the members of all these public bodies can't be relied on to sink a new project, there's always some public-spirited soul, like Ms. Smith, to fall back on. Such folks can always be found willing and available to contest, protest and detest the whole money-grubbing idea, whatever it is. Although Ms. Smith is, to date, "a committee of one," she has already taken the measure of Southern Vermont Natural Gas. Her testimony -- which she doesn't attribute to any engineers, scientists, environmentalists or anyone else, for that matter -- has convinced the members of one area select board to give the pipeline project a thumbs down and has injured its credibility with at least two others.

Finally, the "total sales job" by SVNG that Ms. Smith fears has been anything but awe-inspiring to date. In fact, SVNG has been a major contributor to the public relations nightmare that this project is fast becoming. It's pretty obvious that this group of flatlanders just doesn't fathom the Vermont mind. Here is a partial list of errors they've committed to date in the public relations arena:

- They've badly misjudged the only opponent who's surfaced to date. Ms. Smith has alleged that this project would be an environmental disaster for Vermont -- in fact, her environmental objections could and should have been addressed by now.

-SVNG officials didn't explain a request to eliminate a 45-day public warning in the review process -- after all, who hasn't heard about this by now. That move made Vermonters feel they were being stampeded toward a decision in a monumental project.

-Their latest fiasco is easily the most damaging. They have called for a private meeting with elected and appointed officials from the towns all along the pipeline. This is not only illegal, but is certain to alienate the voting citizens who are excluded -- as well as every reporter and editor in the state.

A gas pipeline for the citizens of Vermont is a great idea. But this gas pipeline will become a pipe dream unless SVNG gets its act together. As for Ms. Smith's proposal that Vermont hire an advocate to combat SVNG -- she herself is the best proof that such a person is unnecessary.