LETTER BELOW
"An area attorney recently likened the back-and-forth between property owners and pipeline companies to gambling, saying: 'It’s like playing poker and having a bluffing hand. You typically have to let them walk away from the table a few times.' "
It makes no difference - there are accidents, pipelines get old, they leak, are poorly maintained.
Massachusetts is NOT safe!
Letter: Pipeline would endanger region’s water supply
Posted: Monday, June 29, 2015 8:05 pm
To the editor:
I wish to rebut the statements made in the June 26 editorial column by Nelson Benton. He stated “Peabody’s politicians are united in their opposition to Kinder Morgan’s proposal to build a new gas pipeline through its western suburbs. No one wants them in their backyard, but everyone wants service...”
Granted, there are many “backyard” issues. But, not all the pipeline is in the “backyard.” The proposed pipeline will run through the Ipswich River basin, so close to the river that the water is visible from the pipeline; and also in an unreasonable proximity to a quarry that blasts to conduct business. Any layman can assume that blasting might cause cracks in the high-pressure piping. If there were a fracture in the pipeline, any resulting leaks would pollute the Ipswich River.
Our grandchildren will have to deal with gas leaks from aging pipes in the river basin. Also, the pipeline will need to be kept vegetation-free for maintenance purposes. Because it runs through the wetlands, the most economical way to do that is to spray weed killers on the greenery ..... weed killers that Kinder Morgan assures us are “safe to have leeching in the drinking water supply”.
The Ipswich River is used by Peabody and many other communities for their municipal water supply. My Beverly/Salem water supply, like Peabody’s, is drawn from the Ipswich River and also from the river basin via the Great Wenham Swamp. The pipeline/river basin pollution issue also includes the aquifers for Lynnfield, North Reading, Middleton, Danvers, Topsfield, Boxford, North Andover, Wenham, Hamilton and Ipswich ... not to mention the downstream Ipswich clam industry.
Kinder Morgan passed out maps at the hearing. But none of their maps showed an overlay of the Ipswich River and the watershed feeders into the Ipswich River Basin.
It is scary to see the implications of their proposed pipeline.
It is not fair for Washington, D.C., planners to dictate to us that their gas line takes priority over the water supply for thousands of us. It is not fair for some PAC to be buying air time on WBZ Boston radio touting how great the LNG industry is going to be for our communities.
The pollution danger to the vital water supply of Essex County is too great to risk. I commend Mayor Bettencourt and Peabody officials, and state Rep. Spiliotis, for raising their voices in opposition to the current plan of laying the pipe in its proposed location.
Posted: Monday, June 29, 2015 8:05 pm
Beatrice Heinze
Beverly
http://www.salemnews.com/opinion/letter-pipeline-would-endanger-region-s-water-supply/article_feec0841-6670-5863-ae1c-24145a6ccddd.html
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