Bruce Edwards / Staff Photo
Opponents of a natural gas pipeline made their views known at a public hearing Tuesday night in Middlebury.
By BRUCE EDWARDS | STAFF WRITER
MIDDLEBURY - Opponents of a proposed natural gas pipeline packed the gym at Middlebury Union Middle School Tuesday night to tell the Public Service Board they want no part of a pipeline that will bring fracked natural gas to Addison County.
One after one opponents came to the podium to denounce in often sharp terms plans by Vermont Gas Systems to extend its pipeline 43 miles from Chittenden County south to Middlebury with the prospect the pipeline could be extended west under Lake Champlain to New York and further south to Rutland.
A common theme that came across from the public comments was that the world was near the tipping point when it came to climate change and global warming. Despite supporters’ claims that natural gas is cleaner burning than fuel oil or coal, opponents were unrelenting in their criticism that emissions from fracked natural gas in particular will only add to the climate change problem.
Fracking is the process that uses water and chemicals under extremely high pressure to disgorge otherwise hard to extract natural gas beneath the earth’s surface.
But those opposed to the pipeline that would bring gas down from Canada said that the fracking process can destroy the land and pollute drinking water. Continue reading