My blood is boiling after reading “Bad vibrations” in the Dec. 19 issue. The article details the noise problems for some residents of Manor Township caused by nonstop drilling under the Conestoga River for the Atlantic Sunrise pipeline. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has ordered the pipeline builder to “look into ways to mitigate the situation.” That’s fantastic. It is kind of like of ordering me to look into buying a Ferrari. It’s just not going to happen.
FERC has the same problem that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission does. It is charged with regulating an industry while simultaneously promoting it. I have an idea for FERC: Do your job, and regulate this travesty. Order Williams to stop construction at night so these people can get some sleep.
I honestly don’t expect Williams or FERC to do anything. The Atlantic Sunrise pipeline has been a sham from the beginning. We were told the natural gas would not be exported — it is all being exported. We were told the project would create high-paid, local jobs — it hasn’t. All the license plates on workers’ vehicles that I have seen are from out of state. We were told the project is about American energy independence — it’s not. It is all about who will pay the most for natural gas.
Fifty years from now, when the natural gas runs out, residents in the Marcellus Shale are left with toxic groundwater and the pipeline is a useless hulk rotting underground, you can be sure none of the companies responsible for it will still be around. They will take their money and run. And the public that is left to deal with this mess? No one will care about them. They got fracked in more ways than one.
Brian Resh
0 Comments