No Public Need, Just Pollution and Greed, said the sign that summed up the overwhelming sentiment of the public.
Jeff Whitten, Bryan County News, 24 April 2015, Proposed Palmetto Pipeline draws little support: Dozens speak out against Kinder Morgan at hearing,
Speaker after speaker stood up before a packed room to voice opposition to the pipeline and Kinder Morgan’s application to the Georgia Department of Transportation for a certificate of necessity and convenience.
The DOT said 528 people came to the hearing, and the agency plans to hold another hearing May 7 in Waynesboro. It also would take written comments through May 15.
If granted, the certificate would allow Kinder Morgan to use eminent domain to force property owners along the pipeline route to sell the company easements if they do not first come to a negotiated agreement.
Kinder Morgan of course pooh-poohed that, claiming they hardly ever did such a thing, and anyway, landowners were “compensated”. I have two Kinder Morgan pipelines on my land, and my father got paid once for each, decades ago, while Kinder Morgan still gets to waltz in whenever they feel like it and I had to build fences and gates to keep out trespassers. Oh, and no trees or structures on a pipeline right of way. You get paid once; they profit indefinitely. If that still seems fair to you, read more about why a pipeline easement is a bad deal, quoting directly from Kinder Morgan’s own writeup.
Locals weren’t buying Kinder Morgan’s bull.
“We are talking about Georgia government officials jumping through hoops for a Texas billionaire who wants to take private property from Georgia citizens for his own personal gain, and the idea is actually being considered,” said [Richmond Hill resident Roy] Hubbard, one of more than 30 to speak against the project.
One speaker was Billy Morris, the founder, chairman and CEO of Morris Communications Co., which owns the Savannah Morning News, Augusta Chronicle and Florida Times-Union, among other newspapers.
He was against it.
A number of those who spoke against the pipeline were environmentalists, and Riverkeepers for just about every river on the coast stood up to speak.
That story has many more quotes, all but one in opposition to the pipeline.
For still more, see Push Back the Pipeline or Savannah Riverkeeper.
Everything they said goes just as much against Spectra Energy’s proposed Sabal Trail pipeline. Yes, the legal details differ (Palmetto much more GDOT; Sabal Trail much more FERC), but the issues are the same. Corporate greed is not a need.
-jsq
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