Saturday, August 22, 2015

Monadfnock Region deserves to hear more about pipeline plan

Sens. Ayotte, Shaheen and Rep. Kuster, we need a third scoping session:

I sent an email to Eric Tomasi (the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s environmental project manager for the Northeast Direct Pipeline) on June 2, 2015, making a case for a scoping session in Rindge. My final statement in the email was that I was beginning to feel the regulatory process under FERC was a farce. I also sent a copy of the same email to FERC’s e-comments. I received a confirmation on that e-comment, so I know they got it.
The newly scheduled open houses are a sorry excuse for being transparent. They do however, satisfy the request of all of our legislators that Kinder Morgan listen to us.
Time has moved on, a FERC-mailed document and articles in our local papers told us that there would be a scoping session in Nashua and Milford and a TBD session in the Winchester area. So, hope springs eternal; in the Monadnock Region, we felt, we were finally going to get a chance to voice our concerns.
Much letter-writing to Concord and Washington about the need for more time and a third scoping session in the Monadnock Region prompted Eric Tomasi to tell the assembled people in Nashua that there would definitely be a third session in the Monadnock Region. Hopes soared, our government was going to work for us.
The next day, at the Milford scoping session, Tomasi made no announcement about a third scoping session in the Monadnock Region. This prompted my wife to ask Eric why he did not tell the Milford crowd that a third session was being scheduled. Eric got evasive and wouldn’t give her a straight answer. My guess is the bureaucrats in Washington felt the storm had blown over, they had heard quite enough objections to this pipeline and they could move on to business as usual.
I should note at this point that people were turned away at the Milford scoping session because the town hall was full.
I hope this letter, email, e-comment, etc., is making people angry, I’m tired of big-money politics, petro-dollars, a government managed by lobbyists, and an organization masquerading as a regulatory body telling us we have to live with a project that has a cost, but no benefit. I’ve been fighting this project since December of 2014; please help me make this effort worthwhile. Please write to your representatives and senators, the governor, our Executive Council, representatives and senators in Washington, FERC, most of all, and my Executive Councilor David Wheeler’s favorite bureaucrat, Eric Tomasi. My hope is that everyone will send so many postings, by whatever is your preferred method, that they are still digging out of it next July.
Before I go any further, please note Eric’s email address: eric.tomasi@FERC.gov Please feel free to use the text of this message if it in any way will help you communicate your concern to our government and the media. Social media-oriented folks, have at it. Citizens of New Hampshire, let’s make General John and Molly Stark proud of what we are doing here in New Hampshire in the 21st century.
JAN A. GRISKA
18 Atlantic Drive
Rindge

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