Vermont Gas wants to build a foot-wide line from Colchester to Middlebury, transporting natural gas from Canada to Addison County. The gathering occurred at Central Valley Union High School, before the Public Service Board held a hearing about the proposed pipeline. Environmental activists and community members made their voices heard about a planned natural gas pipeline through Addison County and under Lake Champlain. Posted in Community Organizing, Fracking, Natural Gas, Vermont Gas Pipeline | Leave a commentīy David Charns / Source: WPTZ Channel 5 News Environmentalists have long raised the alarm, however, pointing to problems with groundwater contamination, waste water disposal and even earthquakes in places where fracking is underway. It’s a technique oil and gas companies love, because it opens up vast reserves of shale gas previously too costly or difficult to extract. Vermont lawmakers last year passed a law making the Green Mountain State the first in the country to ban fracking. In particular, the protestors are unhappy that the pipeline would carry a portion of gas obtained in Canada using hydraulic fracturing, commonly known as “fracking” - Vermont Gas concedes that this is the case. A growing grassroots coalition of environmentalists and workers’ rights advocates, singing solidarity songs and brandishing banners, gathered in front of the high school to make their objections known prior to the start of a Public Service Board public hearing on the project.Ĭhief among their concerns is the environmental impact of extending a pipeline that carries fossil fuel deeper into Vermont. Until now.Ī rally last night at Champlain Valley Union High School illustrated that property owners aren’t the only ones balking at the pipeline extension. In the fight against Vermont Gas’ proposed Addison County natural gas expansion, it’s largely been landowners piping up with concerns about the project, which would run a natural gas transmission line south through Vergennes and Middlebury - and potentially on to Ticonderoga, N.Y. She said Waterbury’s devastation from Tropical Storm Irene was due to climate change derived from fossil fuel use.īy Kathryn Flagg / Source: Seven Days Vermont Natural gas is not clean,” Palmer said.Įmily Reynolds of Waterbury said she is a member of Rising Tide, a group seeking to put a stop to more fossil fuel use. “Natural gas is not the answer to our problems. Speakers at the rally included Jane Palmer, a homeowner from Monkton. People entering Champlain Valley Union High School for the Public Service Board hearing Thursday encountered an orderly rally of climate activists, farmers and students, some holding a 10-foot-long banner stating, “NO PIPELINES. Heather Pipino of the Vermont Workers’ Center speaks during a rally against a proposed gas pipeline through Addison County before a hearing before the Public Service Board to discuss the proposal at Champlain Valley High School in Hinesburg on Thursday.īy Dorothy Pellet / Source: Burlington Free Press
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