I went to the PennEast Pipeline “open house,” and it was even worse than I expected. PennEast had about 60 employees, all in blue shirts, scattered around various tables in the Aquashicola Fire Company. It was truly “divide and conquer.”
The meeting last night at the Penn Forest Fire Company with the two Penn State extension representatives was so much better. Here is one small example. When the pipeline goes through a farm, you can ask the company to pay for the ruined crop. That is obvious. What is not obvious is that you can also ask the pipeline company to pay for the reduced crop which will occur for the next four or five years because the soil has been disturbed. I learned that at Penn Forest, and I am grateful to Doyle Heffley for setting up that meeting.
You would not have learned that tonight in Aquashicola. There is no way the PennEast Pipeline people would tell you that. Tonight’s meeting was all about P.R.
I did get some information from a table staffed by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and a cookie and a measuring tape and a button supplied by PennEast, but I left early in disgust.
I was also disappointed that a number of people from the Laborers’ Union showed up in orange shirts. None of them were at tables asking for information, and I doubt if any of them were from Carbon County. I’m sure that PennEast asked them in and probably promised them work on the pipeline.
If you are in the area, there’s a meeting at the Trachsville Firehouse this Thursday. Maya Rossum of the Delaware River Keepers will speak on how to fight the pipeline, and Dory Hippaup of the Gas Drillers Awareness Coalition will also be available to answer questions.
Remember, this pipeline has not been built yet. There is still time to stop it.
I wish everyone well. It would be fantastic if the pipeline was stopped but unless the EPA or some other entity gets involved it will not get stopped. The sad reality is that money talks and too many politicians are bought and paid for.
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