Dear Williams Partners, I am NOT Your Next Sacrifice Zone: Columbia County, PA, June 5th, 2014, Bloomsburg, PA Firehall.

Pipeline Expansion, Picture Rocks, PA
Photo Wendy Lynne lee

If you live in Columbia County, and you value its tremendous community assets, don’t miss this meeting: June 5^th, 7PM, Bloomsburg Firehall, 911 Market Street, Bloomsburg, PA 17815. 

Williams is hosting an "Open House" for the planned expansion of the TRANSCO, the 42 inch Atlantic Sunrise natural gas pipeline (ASP). If you’re one of the mahy Columbia County landowners who’ve received a letter from Williams, this meeting is vital. Don’t sign anything until you’ve gotten answers to at least these questions:

1.     What is Williams’ view of eminent domain to access private property given that ASP is a for-profit venture—not a public utility? What justifies this seizure of land for the purpose of private profits?  Why isn’t this theft?

2.     Why is Williams marketing ASP for Americans when the gas is destined for LNG export to global markets?

3.    What’s Williams’ plan to control VOC emissions, light/noise pollution, and potential explosions at its planned compressors—especially since one (Bloomsburg) would be near populated areas?

4.   How does Williams plan to respond to letters received by home/property owners from their insurance carriers who decline to cover accidents that are the result of gas company leases?

5. How does Williams respond to its “lengthy record of pipeline safety violations,” for example the massive natural gas explosion in Alabama, 2011, or its failure to follow company policy for “controlling external corrosion in natural gas pipelines running through the New York City borough of Staten Island”? 

Pipeline Cut, Farm, Picture Rocks, PA
Photo Wendy Lynne Lee

Our position at Shale Justice is to stop the pipeline from being constructed. ASP is not only a disaster for the affected counties, it will be a continuing disaster for every Pennsylvanian. There is no such thing as regulating a pipeline whose compressors could emit 8.58 tons of Nitrogen oxides per year, 3.29 tons of Carbon monoxide per year, and 5.39 tons of Volatile organic compounds per year. The only regulation that will be effective is no pipeline.

For documents, news items, and maps that will help you understand the objectives--and hazards--of this pipeline, please go to: 

Shale Justice

Still not convinced you don't want to lease your land:

The Compliance and Safety Records of Williams (WMB), and Williams partners (WPZ), and Williams Midstream

• 2002 – Williams is reported to be in Financial distress and on verge of

bankruptcy (38) (19)

• 2002 – Williams has class action lawsuit filed against it alleging that it failed to

disclose failing financial conditions (33)

• 2003 – Williams pays $20 million (along with Encana Company) to settle claims

of reporting false data to manipulate the U.S. natural gas market (25)

• 2004 – FINED $30,000 for a fire at a well in Parachute, Colorado (47)

• 2007 – Williams agrees to pay $290 million to settle class action lawsuit filed in 2002

(19) (32)

Photo Wendy Lynne Lee

• 2008 – Natural gas explosion in Virginia [Transco] the blast ripped a 32-foot section

of pipe from the ground and caused a 1,100 feet burn zone. Property

damage reported to exceed $3 million (35)

• 2009 – FINED $952,000 for failure to monitor corrosion adequately with the

Virginia pipeline explosion in 2008 (36) (43)

• 2010 – Transco Pipeline leak in Texas. Leak was not reported for 4 days. The 1/4

inch diameter leak caused a reported $57,000 in property damage. Aerial patrol did

not see the leak. Found by an operator who saw some bubbles. (22)

• 2010 / 2011– FINED $275 Thousand over failing to implement and/or maintain

storm water measures to prevent potential pollutants during planned

construction in Parachute, Colorado. State inspectors notified Williams (Bargath) in

Nov. 2010 of violations and told them to take immediate action. According to

report, Williams did not fix violation for 7 months. (8) (28)

• 2011 – FINED $23,000 by PHMSA for failure to conduct own annual

inspections of Natural Gas compressors stations in Texas and Louisiana (18)

• 2011 – [Transco] Natural Gas Pipeline rupture & explosion in Alabama. 8 acres

burn. Coating failure blamed as cause. Reports state that the corrosion was not

recognized by Williams even though they claimed to have systems in place. (2) (36)

Pipeline Expansion, Picture Rocks
Photo Wendy Lynne Lee

• 2012 – Gas leak caused explosion at Natural Gas Compressor Station in

Pennsylvania. Williams restarts the station within 24 hours and started pumping

fracked gas despite request from PA Dept. of Environmental Protection not to do

so. DEP states they make it very clear on the above matter but because it was not an

official order no fines were issued. 1 ton of Methane released. (2) (16)

• 2012 – Transco/Williams FINED $50,000 by PHMSA for failure to follow own

internal policies with controlling corrosion in Natural Gas pipeline in NY (18)

• 2012 – Transco natural gas leak in New Jersey (18) (44)• 2012 (Dec. 20) – The beginning of the Natural Gas Liquid (NGL) pipeline leak in Parachute, Colorado (population 1,000). Parachute Creek runs through the small town, which is nestled next to the Colorado River. (8)

• 2013 (Jan) – Williams discovers leak of NGLs in Parachute plant while working on construction to expand the plant. Reports say the leak was found by ACCIDENT. Leak stopped, but Benzene, a cancer causing agent, has contaminated soil. Williams says leak not affecting creek. (8) (34)

Pipeline Cut, Picture Rocks, PA
Photo Wendy Lynne Lee

• 2013 (March 8) – Williams begins cleanup (2 months later) of Benzene leak (NGL) in Parachute, CO. Authorities and landowners notified that the soil has been contaminated. No mention that groundwater is poisoned. Reports say that Williams didn't report the spill/leak earlier because they thought less than 25 gallons had leaked. (8) (12)

• 2013 (March 15) – Groundwater in Parachute is contaminated with Benzene from NGL leak. Spill finally announced to public. Benzene is cancer-causing agent that breaks down bone marrow. (8) (20) (34) (41)

• 2013 (March) – Reports say Williams/Transco rejects U.S. Army Corp of Engineers safety recommendations in connection with the proposed Rockaway Lateral natural gas pipeline, claiming the requirements would “needlessly delay” the project and force cost overruns. (7)

• 2013 (March) – Williams Natural gas pipeline in West Virginia ruptures (30)

• 2013 (April) – Parachute, CO residents question credibility of Williams who is in charge of testing their water and want the government to take over. Contamination continues to spread into their creek. (8) (42)

• 2013 (April) – Williams say faulty pressure gauge cause of leak in Parachute. Diesel found at gates of Parachute water supply. Benzene detected in creek. State Health Dept takes over oversight of leak. (8) (9)

• 2013 (May) – Benzene levels rise in Parachute, CO creek. State agency tells Williams violated it the law. (8)

• 2013 (May) – Williams announces it will not expand the Parachute, Co plant expansion NOT because of the NGL leak but due to low gas prices. (8)

• 2013 (May 21) – Williams holds Analyst Day in New York City. CEO Alan Armstrong states they have been working on the Bluegrass pipeline project for about 9 - 10 months. Williams states Bluegrass Pipeline is BIG and it's RISKY in terms of permitting. (45)

• 2013 (June 13) – Williams’ Natural Gas Liquid (NGL) cracker plant that process NGLs in Louisiana Explodes and Burns. That chemical plant was in middle of $350 million expansion. 700 contract workers were present; 2 people killed (ages 29 & 47); 70 injuries; 62,000 pounds of toxic chemical released (1) (4) (5) (6) (39)

• 2013 (June 14) – Investigations into Williams Louisiana explosion reveals three years of noncompliance with Federal Clean Air Act, Williams had NOT conducted an OSHA inspection in 10 years. (4) (14)

• 2013 (July 10) – Williams (Bargath) FINED $7,854 by OSHA for failing to protect

workers they sent excavate toxic soil near the Williams’ Parachute, Co plant that

leaked Benzene. Report states that Williams did not have a decontamination

procedure or ensure its employees received safety training related to the spill.

Williams states it has not agreed to or accepted OSHA's allegations. (49)

• 2013 (July 13) – Benzene levels increase at a point in the Parachute, CO Williams NGL

leak. 130 tons per day of contaminated soil has been stockpiled. (3)

• 2013 (July 20) – Report shows that Williams expects to remove and treat as many

as 26 million gallons of groundwater over a half-year to a year at the site of its

natural gas liquids leak alongside Parachute Creek. About 155,000 gallons of

tainted groundwater removed in March has been disposed of in an

injection well in Grand County, Utah. (52)

Sources

1. http://www.marcellusoutreachbutler.org/2/post/2013/06/spill-baby-spill.html

2. http://saneenergyproject.org/2013/07/10/williams-safety-record/

3. http://www.postindependent.com/news/7293598-113/spill-creek-parachute-benzene

4. http://www.nola.com/environment/index.ssf/2013/06/geismar_plant_explosion_leaks.html

5. http://www.dailyworld.com/viewart/20130628/NEWS01/306280004/Report-Geismar-chemical-

plant-explosion-released-toxic-chemicals

6. http://www.tulsaworld.com/article.aspx/Williams_Cos_feds_seek_answers_in_deadly_plant_explo

sion/20130618_49_E1_Willia284464

7. http://carpny.org/the-pipeline/ http://www.naturalgaswatch.org/?p=1818

8. http://conservationco.org/2013/05/whats-going-on-in-parachute-creek/

9. leak photos: http://www.colorado.gov/cs/Satellite?blobcol=urldata&blobheadername1=Content-

Disposition&blobheadername2=Content-

Type&blobheadervalue1=inline%3B+filename%3D%22Natural+Gas+Liquids+Release+Photogra

phs.pdf%22&blobheadervalue2=application%2Fpdf&blobkey=id&blobtable=MungoBlobs&blobwh

ere=1251855888603&ssbinary=true

10. http://www.b2i.us/profiles/investor/NewsPrint.asp?b=630&ID=62970&m=rl&pop=1&cat=1799&

G=343

11. http://www.wnyc.org/blogs/wnyc-news-blog/2012/dec/02/rockaway-pipeline-project-set-move-

forward/

12. http://answersforparachute.com/situation-update/

13. http://protectingourwaters.wordpress.com/2013/06/01/thirteen-injured-in-williams-compressor-

station-explosion-in-new-jersey/

14. http://www.phmsa.dot.gov/staticfiles/PHMSA/DownloadableFiles/Files/Pipeline/SP/Williams%20Tr

ansco%20LOD%20Final%20Signed%202006-26531.pdf

15. http://co.williams.com/williams/our-company/executive-officers/alan-s-armstrong/

16. http://independentweekender.com/index.php/2013/04/10/dep-no-fines-in-lathrop-

incident/#.UeIQYL_nm2w

17. http://www.naturalgaswatch.org/?p=2056

18. http://www.naturalgaswatch.org/?p=1305

http://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/comm/reports/enforce/CaseDetail_cpf_420111001.html?nocache=98

59#_TP_1_tab_2

http://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/comm/reports/enforce/CaseDetail_cpf_120111015.html?nocache=98

82#_TP_1_tab_2

19. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Williams_Companies

20. http://wccongress.org/wcc/2013/05/30/parachute-creek-spill-overview/

21. http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_19529997

22. http://www.phmsa.dot.gov/staticfiles/PHMSA/DownloadableFiles/Files/Pipeline/Failure%20Report

s/Transco%20GT%20TX%202010-04-26%20508.pdf

23. http://www.wyomingbusinessreport.com/article.asp?id=52738

24. http://aspenjournalism.org/2011/04/12/stormwater-mis-management-in-the-gas-fields/

25. http://www.ogj.com/articles/print/volume-101/issue-31/general-interest/cftc-announces-

settlements-with-encana-williams.html

26. http://co.williams.com/williams/operations/gas-pipeline/transco/

27. http://co.williams.com/williams/customers/natural-gas-liquids/overland-pass-pipeline/

28. http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/articles/williams-subsidiary-fined-over-stormwater-violatio

29. http://www.ogj.com/articles/2003/07/cftc-settles-natural-gas-fixing-charges-against-williams-

encana.html

30. http://www.naturalgaswatch.org/?s=williams+company

31. http://wpxenergy.com

32. http://securities.stanford.edu/1023/WMB02/

33. http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Class+Action+Lawsuit+Filed+Against+Williams+Companies,+Inc.

%2FWilliams...-a082349156

34. http://www.colorado.gov/cs/Satellite/CDPHE-HM/CBON/1251642662859

35. http://pstrust.org/about-pipelines1/map-of-major-incidents/transco-virgina-accident

36. http://www.paintsquare.com/news/?fuseaction=view&id=7242

37. http://www.gjsentinel.com/breaking/articles/williams-subsidiary-fined-for-other-parachute-creek-

watershed-problems

38. http://www.tulsaworld.com/article.aspx/CEO_of_Williams_Cos_to_retire/20101013_49_e1_cutlin4

13143

39. http://www.cnn.com/2013/06/13/us/louisiana-chemical-plant-explosion/index.html

40. http://www.epa-echo.gov/cgi-bin/get1cReport.cgi?tool=echo&IDNumber=110000746337

41. http://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancercauses/othercarcinogens/intheworkplace/benzene

42. http://www.postindependent.com/article/20130405/VALLEYNEWS/130409957

43. https://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/comm/reports/enforce/documents/120091007/120091007_FinalOrd

er_11172009.pdf

44. http://www.tulsaworld.com/article.aspx/FYI_Business/20120404_498_e2_hwilli696984

45. http://www.b2i.us/profiles/investor/fullpage.asp?BzID=630&to=cp&Nav=0&LangID=1&s=385&I

D=13611;

http://www.b2i.us/Profiles/Investor/Investor.asp?BzID=630&from=du&ID=62994&myID=13611

&L=I&Validate=3&I=

46. http://www.b2i.us/profiles/investor/NewsPrint.asp?b=630&ID=60830&m=rl&pop=1&cat=1799&

G=343

47. http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20041210/NEWS/41210003

48. http://www.stopthepipeline.org

49. http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_23637022/osha-fines-3-firms-finds-workers-at-

parachute

50. http://co.williams.com/williams/our-company/our-history/

51. http://marcellusdrilling.com/2013/05/fire-at-williams-compressor-station-in-susquehanna-county-pa/

52. http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/articles/williams-to-treat-millions-of-gallons-of-groundwater.

Pipeline vs Rail & Truck

"While accidents associated with the transportation of hazardous materials via rail and road are more frequent than pipeline incidents, rail and truck spills are limited to the amount of product that can be held in transit.

Pipeline Expansioon, Picture Rocks, PA
Photo Wendy Lynne Lee

According to a review of data from the Pipelines and Hazardous Materials Administration (PHMSA) completed by the Association of American Railroads, total railroad crude oil spills between 2002-2012 equaled less than one percent of the total pipelines spills (railroads spilled 2,268 barrels total vs. pipelines spilled 474,441 barrels total). Additionally, during the same time period, average pipeline spills were four times larger than the average rail spill (average 65 barrels by rail vs. average 266 barrels by pipeline)."

Is this what you want in you yard? On your property? For your kids?

If not--come to the Williams "Open House," Bloomsburg Fire Hall, June 5th, 2014, 6-8.

Ask them to justify imposing this hazard on your family.

More Reasons Yet to Vote Green: Comments on Committee of 37 Peace Initiative Change.Org Petition for Gubernatorial Candidate Tom Wolf

Chief Dacheux Frack Pad, Photo Wendy Lynne Lee

This Change.Org petition (

Petition | Defend Public Interest | Change.org), written by Scott Davis, Chairman, Committee of 37 Peace Initiative illustrates why it is VERY important to read petitions before you sign them. I am not going link to the petition--no point in inviting more folks to the ludicrous, but if I were Tom Wolf, I'd be cringing and embarrassed at the absurdity of the claims that my supporters were making on my behalf. Then again, if THIS is the level to which our political dialogue has sunk, it's no wonder we keep electing men and women who fail to represent our interests, sell us out to the Koch Brothers, routinely trample our basic human rights, and then laugh all the way to the off-shorted bank accounts. 

This petition runs as follows runs [I have made NO changes in the wording or typing]:

Defend Public Interest... . First, let me say that ALL PENNSYLVANIANS, regardless of
party or not; and regardless of previous voting record or
declaration or affiliation, must
for the greater good, immediately and unequivocally
UNITE BEHIND TOM WOLF
as the standard-bearer of the restoration of freedom,
decency in Government, and Constitutional rule
to the Cradle of Liberty - PENNSYLVANIA.

Really? Why?

Tom Wolf will do as little to protect us from the ongoing disaster that is fracking as his predecessor, Tom Corbett.

Tom Wolf understands as little as his predecessor that clean water and air are necessary conditions for the exercise of all the other of our rights,

Sand Can, Photo Wendy Lynne Lee

Tom Wolf (as a good friend points out to me) will codify the fact of FRACKING even more deeply than his predecessor by leveling a tax upon which programs and social services will become quickly dependent--thereby legitimating even MORE fracking.

Tom Wolf buys the bridge fuel "Saudi Arabia of natural gas" argument as lock, stock, and barrel as his predecessor--even though it has been shown beyond repair to be bogus. Tom Wolf will do as little as his predecessor to protect activists and other citizens from police harassment, intimidation, and spying--and in fact seems to know next to nothing about what's really happening in rural Pennsylvania.

Tom Wolf won the primary not on principle or positions--but because he could out-spend all of his opponents on TV commercial time.

The Change.org petition continues:

Any "my way or the highway" illusions to the effect
that bringing about the restoration of good government
in Pennsylvania will be easy, or can be micromanaged
by this or that special advocacy or special interest group,
must be dispelled right here, and right now - as
Pennsylvania wakes up from the most tragic episode
in its history - a creeping Fascist dictatorship imposed
in this State, under the counterfeit guise of liberty and justice

Yet Tom Wolf is perfectly comfortable allowing the continuation of the corporate fascism of the fracking industry, allowing municipalities to be micro-managed by the gas companies.

On Wednesday, November 5, 2014, and for a few days
thereafter, we expect that you will be charging your batteries
and resting up from the long and successful task behind you;
that you will be doing something which hasn't been done for
many years by any Governor-Elect of Pennsylvania - you will be
devoting yourself full-time for two months to designing the next
Governorship in Pennsylvania; in direct contrast to what happened

Pipeline, Photo Wendy Lynne Lee

in 2010- 2011, when Pennsylvania had an absentee Governor Elect
who devoted himself full-time,
right up until January 18, 2011; to furtively and secretively
nailing every possible closet door shut - but alas, the bones
all began to clatter and spill out despite all this furtive effort.
And it will take a team of legal archaeologists several years
to fully sort out the damage from this
ossification of liberty.

What on EARTH does this gobblety-gook even MEAN?

How about this? Governor Tom Corbett SUCKS. But at least Corbett was direct in his selling the state out to the gas companies. Wolf, on the other hand, buys every word of the absurd gas hype about jobs, environmental protections--all the while he will do NOT A DAMN THING to protect your land from being seized by eminent domain for a private profit interests being paraded as a public utility. 

The conflicts of interest from the past several years must be
sorted out, no matter which party or interest group these conflicts
were instigated by. And here is one conflict of interest which is
very important to the people of Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware
Ohio, New Jersey, West Virginia, New York State and even
Virginia, as well as other States further downstream from the
Ohio Valley of Pennsylvania; and to all people who might eat
or drink anything produced in these dozen States: the conflict
between private and public interest in terms of the composition
of mineral extraction fluids; known in some cases as
"fracking fluids.

HUH? Fracking fluids are not a private interest. Frack waste is a PUBLIC HAZARD. And the cause of that hazard must be BANNED if we're to have any protection at all under the Pennsylvania Constitution's provision for clean air and water. The supporters of Mr. Wolf--a candidate who won't even go near the weakest possible position on fracking, his own Party's moratorium--don't have a conflict of interest. No--they have simply sold out the rest of the movement to end extreme extraction.

Bentonite spill,
Photo Wendy Lynne Lee

The immediate focus of this petition is the
judicious weighing of the tug-of-war between
private proprietary rights, on the one hand; and
on the other hand - and in a way which can be
both complimentary and agreeably worked out
in an enlightened and cordial manner,
the public interest.

This is incoherent gobblety-gook. There IS a war going on in Pennsylvania over rights--but it is NOT between "private proprietary rights" and the "public interest." 

The "private proprietary rights" the writer refers to apparently (but not coherently) refer to the rights of the gas industry (and the CAFOs) to poison us--but this is NO RIGHT AT ALL. And the "public interest" is not really an interest--clean air and water are necessary conditions of living organisms. Hence, there is no "agreeably worked out cordial" compromise unless we agree that either some folks can be sacrificed--say the folks in the Susquehanna River Basin that's poorer than the Delaware, or that a little, say, benzene is OK. 

But that is ABSURD.

Mr. Wolf, at the end of the week during which the Pennsylvania
primary election process cast the election in your favor, a sneak
ploy by the outgoing Administration was implemented as soon as
was possible, and in a desperate and shameful manner.
That was the way in which the big campaign contributors
got their money's worth out of Pennsylvania government, when vast areas of forestlands which had been previously
under the declared protection of Government, were suddenly
thrown open to a new potential for
Teapot-Dome style
mineral extraction leases.

I gather Davis is referring to Governor Corbett's opening of state parks to more fracking on the pretense that there won't be "surface disturbance." But what difference does this make? Even IF Wolf rescinds this executive order, all he will have accomplished is a concession to the "special places" rhetoric that makes YOUR yard open season for the industry while saving the hiking trails of United Shale Awareness and their friends in the Keystone Trails Association. Why would you vote for a candidate who regards your land as a fair trade for the vacation spots of the wealthy?

Compressor post Hurricane Sandy
Photo Wendy Lynne Lee

Davis then goes on to gesture--sort of--in the direction of a "be it resolved" that the executive order to open state forests to frackers are immoral and that Native Americans and "Progressive types" know how to keep frack fluids in the ground.

This is nonsense. And it matters because when we in the anti-fracking movement--who support a BAN--sign on to incoherent gibberish like this absurd petition, we are acting as flame throwers for the gas industry. 

We could not do ourselves more damage than by getting behind this piece of nonsense--well, except for by supporting a candidate who is a WOLF in sheep's clothing--THAT is Tom Wolf.

And you KNOW you have a viable, meaningful, courageous alternative: GREEN PARTY candidate, Paul Glover (

Green Party of Pennsylvania)

JUMP. SHIP.

Profit-Venture Pipelines are Not Public Utilities

Note: The following is the second of a series of letters to the editor concerning Williams Partner's, MLP (WPZ, formed in 2007) planned expansion of the TRANSCO natural gas pipeline. Each  addition to the series will focus on a specific aspect of the Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Company, LLC's strategy to maximize natural gas transport from frack pad to compressor station to pipeline to export depot. My aim will be to show that--contrary to Williams' claims to concern for the environment, safety, human health, property rights, job opportunities, or community integrity--the Oklahoma company's singular objective is to maximize the profits of its shareholders and its affiliated industry partners at virtually any cost--so long as that cost can be externalized to the public.

Photo, Wendy Lynne Lee

My message is simple and clear: this pipeline cannot be built, and if we allow it we will be to blame for the consequent disaster. There's one truth that's as unmistakable as it is undeniable: more pipeline, more frack pads, more compressors, more tractor-trailor, sand can, chem-truck, and waste hauler traffic, more explosions, more abuses of eminent domain, more forced integration, more property condemnations, more water and air pollution, more forest fragmentation, more invasive species, more community division, more cancer, more endocrine disruption, more lung disease, more rashes, more livestock illness, more suffering--more climate change. What this pipeline represents in the continuing liquidation of Pennsylvania's assets, and its systematic  conversion into an industrialized natural gas extraction colony for multinational corporations--just like Williams. 

I will show you.

Letter two:

When is a profit venture whose primary objective is to transport a highly explosive fossil fuel along arteries through forest and fen, farmland and township, past school houses, retirement homes, hospitals, and homes to export terminals bound for the global markets to be counted as a public utility--a public good?

I'd suggest that the answer to that question is: never. 

CYNOG Compressor, PA
Photo, Wendy Lynne Lee

And I recommend strongly that you don't cave to the landman. 

Case in point--and if you're following so far, this will make you gag:

As reported at Lancaster Online (Court blocks use of eminent domain on pipeline to pass through Lancaster County - Local News - lancasteronline.com), Sunoco was denied appeal to the use of eminent domain by Judge Stephen Linebaugh (3.25.14) specifically on the grounds that Sunoco is a pipeline carrier and not a public utility. "Officials for Williams Partners, which wants to build a 35-mile Marcellus Shale natural gas line the length of Lancaster County, north to south, said Wednesday that the court case has no bearing on their project...Stockton [Spokesperson for WPZ] said Williams is under the jurisdiction of the Natural Gas Act [FERC: Natural Gas Pipelines], not the Interstate Commerce Act like Sunoco, and would need to get its power of eminent domain if the project is approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission." 

Two points about FERC:

1. Although FERC claims to "work with" corporations like WPZ to insure the safety of pipeline construction, "[t]he Commission has no jurisdiction over pipeline safety or security" (FERC: Natural Gas Pipelines).

Combine that with: 

2.  FERC virtually never denies a permit application. This is, of course, not surprising since the agency's job just is to grant permits: "FERC, is an independent agency that regulates the interstate transmission of electricity, natural gas, and oil," and because all of its commissioners stand to benefit in one way or another from the energy industries, especially fossil fuels, we can hardly expect them to actually regulate--much less deny--a permit.

Chairperson, Cheryl LaFleur: retired acting CEO of National Grid USA, "responsible for the delivery of electricity to 3.4 million customers in the Northeast" (Cheryl A. LaFleur Biography :: Renewable Energy News and Energy Regulation Information | The Energy Daily). 

Commissioner Tony Clark: From the North Dakota Utility Regulatory Commission, said in a recent interview with the American Gas Association, that the construction of LNG terminals like the one planned by Dominion at Cove Point was good for "energy independence," and insisted--citing "regulatory overreach" that the EPA was not in the best position to evaluate environmental impact--that this should be left to the states (An interview with 2011 NARUC President Tony Clark | True Blue Natural Gas - An Energy Blog from the American Gas Association AGA). In a speech given to a conference of oil and gas operators after his appointment to FERC, he chimed "Keep doing what you’re doing!" (FERC Commissioner—U.S. on Brink of Energy Security | OK Energy Today).

And that's just two of the four current commissioners. Indeed, when commissioner nominee, Ron Binz dared to suggest that natural gas was a "bridge strategy" to renewables, he was attacked  by the Wall Street Journal as a "radical" (More FERC Uproar: Nominee for Chairman Stirs Controversy « Breaking Energy - Energy industry news, analysis, and commentary).     That he  was targeted by the American Energy Alliance and Americans for Prospeity, both Koch Brothers front groups, and thereby forced to withdraw his nomination, should give us a glimpse of the FERC Worldview--or at least who it's not willing to confront (Koch-Fueled Groups Target Ron Binz, Obama's FERC Nominee). 

The upshot is that we have no reason to trust FERC to act particularly for the public good, and every reason to think its commissioners' interests align with the companies they "regulate," including WPZ.

And that brings us right back around to Sunoco, WPZ and eminent domain. As reported by Keep Tap Water Safe (Former PA DEP Secretary Krancer Wants Sunoco To Condemn Your Property | Keep Tap Water Safe), Sunoco's set back--being denied by Judge Linebaugh the right to act as a public utility--was barely even that. In fact, Sunoco had merely paused to reload its property condemnation guns with former Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) secretary, Michael Krancer, now attorney for Blank Rome, who now stood ready and anxious to execute the industry friendly oil and gas laws he helped to put into place while he was at DEP:

Now, the recently former Department of Environmental Protection Secretary is leading the legal team who is working to win Sunoco LP some special utility status, thereby stripping Pennsylvania landowners of their local zoning protections. If this seems ethically challenged to you, maybe it’s because Krancer is now profiting directly from the free-wheeling gas drilling permit policies he enacted while in public office little more than a year ago. Again, it’s sneaky, but it’s not illegal.

Fact is, "Sunoco must export large amounts of gas liquids in order to be profitable. Selling a little propane to the locals on the side does not a public utility make," and that is what's directly relevant to WPZ's plans for the Atlantic Sunrise pipeline. Selling a little natural gas to the locals does not a profit make. Getting to be a public utility-that's where the big bucks are.

If Williams gets Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approval for the 176-mile line through six Pennsylvania counties, it will begin negotiations to buy roughly 55-foot-wide land easements from property owners along its preferred path. If property owners object, Williams will seek the easements through eminent domain in the courts. (Natural Gas Archives |)

In other words, if you don't sign over your land to the landman when he arrives at your door, he's going to try to take it from you anyways, and another word for that "taking" is theft.  Why? Because, as I argued in the first installment in this series, the Atlantic Sunrise is not intended for the public good; it is intended for global export (THE WRENCH: When Sunrise for the Global Gas Markets is Sunset for Pennsylvania: Williams Partner's "Atlantic Sunrise" Expansion of the TRANSCO). So all that hype about "American,""energy security," and "cheap" is just that--hype to get you to sign away your property to a multinational company masquerading as a good neighbor in a plaid shirt and jeans.

He's not. He is, in fact, a thief who is poised to steal from you through the sheer force of a FERC permit approval what he can't extort from you through your signature. And given what we can readily surmise about FERC, not one iota of what he's going to tell you about safety, environment, property value is something FERC is in any position to give a tinker's damn about. 

Still, if you're not entirely convinced by these facts that you don't want to sign a contract for that easement or right-of way, consider the wise words of Michael Faherty, attorney representing landowners in eminent domain cases against the gas industry  “Landowners need to be wary about these companies that come looking to acquire land, they don’t have an obligation to be telling the truth,” Faherty said. “They need to be wary of land agents.” 
(Natural Gas Archives |).

No obligation to tell the truth--that is the understatement of the year--so far.

Here's just a snippet (we'll get to this in letter three) of what they don't tell you:

1. More pipeline means more unconventional drilling--fracking--and more drilling means--just for example:

In a 2013 survey of 550 people conducted by business researchers at the University of Denver, a strong majority said they would decline to buy a home near a drilling site. The study, published in the Journal of Real Estate Literature, also showed that people bidding on homes near fracking locations reduced their offers by up to 25 percent.

If you think that there's a big difference in having a pipeline going through your property is really that different than having an active frack pad, think again. 

An economic analysis by the Headwaters Institute undermines the idea that oil and gas developments fatten the bank accounts of communities and leave them better off than before drilling started. While there may be short-term windfalls, the study of six western states found that over the long-term “oil and gas specialization is observed to have negative effects on change in per capita income, crime rate and education rate.”  (How Fracking Destroys the American Dream | EcoWatch)

Now maybe you're thinking that so long as you don't have a drilling operation right in your back yard, a pipeline is OK--and truth is, the likelihood of a pipeline explosion is fairly small. But, where's there's pipeline, there's compressors, and where there's compressors, the potential for exposure to volatile organic compounds, and to other fugitive emissions accelerates. Here's a little light reading until letter three: 

http://un-naturalgas.org/pipeline%20text%20Dec%2009.pdf

Barto Compressor,
Photo, Wendy Lynne Lee

Air quality concerns raised as gas compressor stations multiply - News - Citizens' Voice

Barto Compressor Station Exceeds Pollution Standards

And then, of course, there are the explosions, for example a Williams' incident just recently in Opal, Wyoming at a natural gas processing plant (Explosion shuts large natural gas processing plant in Wyoming | Reuters):

The Williams plant feeds into the Opal Hub, a crossroads for five pipelines that connect to California, Oregon and Canada and head east across the Rocky Mountains. Gas at the Opal Hub for Thursday delivery rose 6 cents to $4.63 per million British thermal units.
Wyoming and U.S. regulators were not available to comment or say if gas flows at the Hub would be affected. Utilities used a record amount of gas this past winter to meet heating needs during unusual cold snaps that caused volatile prices and left stockpiles at their lowest level since 2003. A string of accidents involving the country's overburdened pipeline and rail infrastructure has prompted new safety concerns as U.S. output of oil and gas surges during an unprecedented boom. On March 31, a pipeline within its liquefied natural gas facility in Washington exploded and shrapnel from the blast caused a leak in one of two liquefied natural gas tanks, prompting evacuation orders near the plant outside the rural town of Plymouth.

On April 7, a Williams unit said that a gas gathering pipeline in West Virginia caught fire.
Williams operates two natural gas processing plants in Wyoming which remove liquids and other impurities from natural gas to allow it to be transported in large pipelines.
Gas comes to the processing plants from the Williams gathering system, a network of 3,500 miles of pipelines which collect gas produced in the region.

So, just to sum it all up (for now): why would anyone in their right mind sign a contract with a company whose 

1. safety record is shoddy, 
2. who's willing to use the power of eminent domain condemnation to get what they want, 
3. whose product is extracted and processed at the immense expense of the health and environments of the people who must live forever in its shadow, 
4. and whose singular aim is to export its product to insure its availability to the highest bidder? 

TRANSCO, Picture Rocks, PA
Photo, Wendy Lynne Lee

When the WPZ landman, and his plaid shirt and jeans, knocks on your door, be polite, but tell him no. And when he says he'll be back, wait for him to leave and go talk to your neighbors.

Or better--go talk to your neighbors right now.