Open Letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)
TO: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street, NE, Washington, DC, 20426 RE: Interstate Pipelines for Natural Gas & NGL from Fracked Horizontal Gas Wells We assert to you a responsibility to apply the following principles to your consideration of the PIPELINES now being planned in the United States:
Natural gas and natural gas liquids (NGL) are hydrocarbons and fossil
fuels, as such they are greenhouse gases in the atmosphere of the EARTH; and, when they are consumed will ultimately become carbon dioxide which is a greenhouse gas already above 400 ppm in the atmosphere, an unsafe level which promotes Global Warming and other problems.
The President of the US has mandated that greenhouse gases are to be
controlled and limited to reduce Global Warming and Climate Change, which has already reached extremes as demonstrated by global temperature measures and weather conditions.
The US EPA seeks to control and limit greenhouse gases from all
sources, particularly the fossil fuels that are the major contributors of methane and carbon dioxide.
The US Department of the Interior seeks to limit damages to our public
lands, and this example should carryover to State properties of Schools, Parks, Forests, and others.
The US Forest Service has expressed substantial concerns for certain
damages to our National Parks, National Forests and other forested lands due to pipeline construction, compressor stations, and extensive land and forest damages including fires and explosions that are not uncommon.
The right of “eminent domain” which grants permission to private
companies for the taking of personal property has been grossly abused by FERC; therefore, only in the most urgent and essential cases should such authority be granted, the instances should be very few and the land taken should be a very small amount and of marginal value.
The “Halliburton loopholes” should be set aside as not appropriate in
the regulation of the environmental damages of fracking and pipelines to water supplies, air quality and other protections. These considerations should apply to the Atlantic Coast Pipeline across WV, VA, and NC; to the Mountain Valley Pipeline across WV and VA, to the Nexus Pipeline across Ohio, Michigan and Canada; to the ET Rover Pipeline across WV, OH, Michigan and Canada; to the Sunoco Mariner East 2 Pipeline across Ohio, WV and PA, and to the many other large diameter and long distance pipelines that are being developed. This should also apply to the thousands of miles of smaller and shorter pipelines within the individual States, as we are particularly concerned about Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, and Virginia where extensive pipeline develop is underway. Access road construction and pipeline/compressor station installation and operation are destructive of the land, result in subsidence, sedimentation, fragmentation and other damages. Air pollution results from gas well development and from vents, leaks, flares, fires and explosions. The fracking silica sand and diesel trucks and other equipment have been shown to create dangerous health conditions due to ultra-fine particulates and other pollutants. Duane G. Nichols, Board Member, Mon Valley Clean Air Coalition 330 Dream Catcher Circle, Morgantown, WV 26508 cc: President Obama, Governors of PA, OH, VA and WV