Tag Archives: Steckman Ridge

Spectra was fined for Steckman Ridge compressor blowout

A Spectra compressor station in Pennsylvania blew oil over local crops in 2009, and Pennsylvania fined Spectra $22,000 for that in 2010. Spectra’s Andrea Grover told me in 2013 that everybody there was happy. Mike Benard explained actually that wasn’t the case. Benard later wrote sage words: Spectra Energy: Trust Facts Not Promises. Better to stop Spectra’s Albany compressor station before it has a chance to spew.

Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection, Press Release, 31 March 2010, DEP Fines Steckman Ridge $22,000 for Air, Water Quality Violations: Malfunctioning Compressor Discharged Industrial Oil to Surrounding Properties, Continue reading Spectra was fined for Steckman Ridge compressor blowout

Citizens meet against Spectra’s Algonquin pipeline

Safety, property values, insurance, schools: same concerns about Spectra’s Algonquin pipeline as about its Sabal Trail pipeline. Plus Algonquin runs by the safety-paper-forging Indian Point nuke! Nothing to worry about, says Spectra’s Marylee Hanley, same as she said about that compressor leak at Steckman Ridge, and same as Spectra said about Searsmont, Maine, where residents say they were lied to. New York residents aren’t buying that; they don’t want their property and lives risked for LNG export profit. They already had 50 people in a meeting in July, and they’re doing more. And FERC has actually denied a Spectra Algonquin pipeline permit before; time to do it again!

Lanning Taliaferro wrote for Ossining-Croton-on-Hudson Patch 25 August 2014, Opponents Set Sept. 3, 4, 13 Info Sessions on Natural Gas Pipeline Project,

Residents and elected officials throughout Westchester and Putnam Continue reading Citizens meet against Spectra’s Algonquin pipeline

OpEd: Spectra Energy: Trust Facts Not Promises –Mike Benard

By Mike Benard today in the Peekskill, NY Daily Voice. -jsq

OpEd: Spectra Energy: Trust Facts Not Promises,

Speaking from experience with Spectra Energy, property owners and communities can expect the company (NYSE: SE) will not do what it says it will in terms of transparency and accountability; and the company will develop amnesia when questioned about its actual track record relating to safety and federal fines.

Managing by fact is simple. If communities and local governments want to know what to expect from Spectra Energy, ask folks who live with its facilities today.

For example, property owners in Bedford County, Pa. (about Continue reading OpEd: Spectra Energy: Trust Facts Not Promises –Mike Benard

Spectra Energy — Be the Best it Can Be –Mike Benard

Mike Benard sent this today to Spectra’s Andrea Grover, copied to a long list of news media and local, state, and federal elected and appointed officials and employees. For local background, see Spectra reps unfamiliar with Spectra fines @ LCC 2013-12-09. -jsq

Ms. Grover:

Those of us property owners who are already Spectra Energy “stakeholders” (the company’s term), want Spectra Energy to be the best it can be, consistent with its publicly stated commitment to Stakeholder Engagement, Integrity, Transparency, and Accountability.  

Reference link:  http://www.spectraenergy.com/Sustainability/Economic/Acting-with-Integrity/

To that end, and regarding your activities as a “Director of Stakeholder Outreach” on behalf of Spectra Energy’s proposed Sabal Trail pipeline, property owners in Georgia report that you are asserting the following at public meetings:

•  You assert that property owners at Spectra Energy’s Steckman Ridge compressor facility in Bedford County, PA are “happy” despite ongoing problems there and a consistent lack of response from Spectra Energy to its “stakeholders.”  

FACT:  I speak for more than a dozen families who live next to or near the problematic compressor facility; and your statement is incorrect and misleading.  What facts do you have to support such a disingenuous allegation?  A ring of health, water and operational complaints surround this facility that began operations in 2009.  Based on unofficial record keeping by neighbors, there have been nearly 60 shutdowns, blowdowns and related incidents at the Steckman Ridge compressor station and underground natural gas storage facility between August 2009 and the present.  And there is much more, as you know.

You assert that uncontrolled releases of methane and other hydrocarbons that happen too frequently at the Steckman Ridge compressor facility are “normal.”  Let’s hope not.  Your assertion is uninformed and misleading.  

FACT:  Recall the March 9-10 incident Continue reading Spectra Energy — Be the Best it Can Be –Mike Benard