(Georgetown, NY – Oct. 2014) Dominion Transmission Inc. has proposed a new natural gas compressor station the Madison County town of Georgetown and hamlet of Sheds. A compressor is needed to increase the pressure to move more gas through the existing pipeline. It is very important that landowners, local officials and others interested in the project attend the FERC scoping hearing on Wednesday Oct. 8 at 7:30 p.m. at the Georgetown Town Hall.
Awareness is finally growing in New York about these projects. This compressor project should be considered a segment of a massive build-out of fracked gas infrastructure in the Northeast. Everyone should demand that FERC make critical safety information available.
The pipeline that will be carrying this gas is about 50+/- yrs. old, has it been maintained? What is the safety and compliance record of the operator? As the compressor will be for in part for fracked gas, will FERC consider impacts such as possible water contamination and radon gas? Will Health impacts be considered or loss in property values?
We are now on the public comment period on the Environmental Assessment (EA), which ends on Oct. 20, 2014. Even if you cannot attend the meeting it is critical that all of your concerns be made during the comment period. You can use FERC’s eComment to make a quick comment on the docket without registration: http://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/ecomment.asp
We are being asked to believe, this station has “nothing to do with more drilling.” However, based upon Dominion’s own brochure I’m convinced that the purpose of a new compressor station is to encourage drilling/fracking in our communities (in the future) and other places in order to ship more gas overseas. There will be no stopping the transport and use of fracked gas once the infrastructure build-out happens.
Compressors are necessary to clean, treat, and pressurize natural gas in order to deliver it through pipelines. However, emissions released from gas compressor have been shown to increase the risk respiratory & cardiovascular diseases; and chemicals known as Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) that include benzene & toluene, can put people at risk of developing leukemia, kidney & neurological diseases.
Climate change is real; air, water and land pollution are real. More compressors, pipelines and fracking are not the solution to our energy needs. New York offers several tax incentives to encourage solar energy in residential areas; companies specializing in the production of renewable energy products and technologies such as solar panels and wind turbines are eligible for 10 years of tax freedom under Governor Cuomo’s new business program, START-UP NY. Infrastructure build-out for fracked gas should not be allowed in the Empire State.
Cheryl Cary
Canastota
FERC is holding a public scoping meeting on WEDNESDAY, October 8th 2014, at 7:30 pm.
The event will be held at:
Georgetown Town Hall,
995 State Route 26,
Georgetown, NY 13072
The Public is invited to attend this meeting to provide comments and/or concerns regarding the environmental impacts with the construction and operation of the facility.
Who pays for those tax subsidies for solar and wind energy? Sounds like this compressor could actually bring money into the community instead of extracting like taxes do.
The FERC Scoping Hearing at the Georgetown Town Hall on Oct. 8 was an illegal meeting because the number of people in the room exceeded the fire code limit of 132. Many people could not come in to hear or speak, which, after all, is the function of a hearing. The federal officials thougt so little about the hearing that they did not even provide a microphone so speakers could be heard by the people in the back and outside.
Unfortunately, the police were unwilling to enforce the fire code and stop the hearing. The FERC representatives, also, did not not heed the access, sound or safety concerns that the attendees were angry and adamant about and they proceeded with a hearing which people couldn’t hear. There were 60 people who wanted to be heard, so this was no insignificant hearing.
I have now seen for myself how federal agencies are in bed with the businesses they are supposed to oversee. FERC was mandated to hold one hearing for 5 compressor stations across the state. They have now held their mandated hearing and they can rubber stamp Dominion’s compressor stations in 5 communities that will have no opportunity to be heard. Thank you Cheryl for alerting us to this hearing, sham that it was.