NFR23

By Tom Briggs

Last February, I was approached by my neighbor and Village Trustee, Paul DeAndrea to see if I would consider running for Mayor of Franklin. John Campbell had served six years with distinction in this position and after taking on many pressing village issues, including a major public works project, was not interested in serving another term. I had been on a committee three years ago to review the state of the village and its viability at a time when other small municipalities were being encouraged to merge with their respective towns, and I had become aware of and impressed with the efficiency with which the village conducted its business.

Because of the success of the water system upgrade and the sense that Franklin wouldn’t need to undertake another project of this magnitude in the near future, I felt fairly comfortable that I could have the freedom to enjoy my retirement and still fulfill my self-imposed civic responsibility by throwing my hat in the ring. Because there was no opposition to my candidacy, I was elected unanimously by the thirty-plus civic minded village residents who took the time to vote, whether there was a contested election or not.

For those who might suppose that I’m just another person from parts elsewhere, inserting myself into the affairs of the village without paying my dues, I’d like to share some back ground. My forebears came to Delaware County as part of a post-Revolution population surge in the 18th century, settling along the Delaware River between Deposit and Hale Eddy. Most of my relatives were born, raised, and buried in this general area, enjoying the bounty of its beauty and enduring the hard times that often accompany living in a remote area. I grew up in Deposit, left to go to college, returned in the mid 1970s and located an administrative job at the Delaware County Office for the Aging.

In 1983, I became the Director of the agency and in the following year moved to Treadwell in the Town of Franklin, where my wife Donna and I raised our family. In 2006, we relocated to the village of Franklin. During my thirty-four years of public service, I served on the boards of several organizations at the local, state and national levels. I was fortunate enough to rub elbows with people whose vision and drive helped me to understand the qualities that define true greatness. I was also fortunate to befriend many people who acted in a supportive role to whatever cause was being pursued. These were the unsung “worker bees” whose collective efforts were essential to growing ideas into accomplishments.

My vision for Franklin might be considered by some as modest, by others as almost unattainable. It would bring me great joy to see the people of this community work together in harmony to create a living environment that matches the social dynamic that prevailed in the not so distant past. Youth programs, fraternal organizations, the fire department and emergency squad, village improvement, library, the theater, the museum and other organizations are all in need of volunteers. People with ideas, whether they be local or “city folk,” should be welcomed and encouraged to share their perceptions. We should all be sensitive to the marketing concept that private enterprise attaches to its products and services: to engender in the customer a sense of meaning and belonging.

To our advantage, Franklin is one of the real jewels of the Leatherstocking area. We have a wonderful library, a good school system, a top notch theater, a well-trained and organized fire department and emergency squad, a museum complex that has tremendous potential, a well-kept historic Main Street, a thriving farmers’ market, an active faith community and a nucleus of bright, creative, hardworking and positive people.

Of concern is our capacity for sustainability. Without an influx of young people with means and families, our Main Street will fall into disrepair, our school system will be in jeopardy, our volunteer organizations will experience significant under-enrollment, and this quaint little village will face the same hard times that many of the other upstate communities are already experiencing.

In the months to come, I hope to meet with representatives from the various community organizations to discuss their perceptions and to explore strategies that might be employed to have a positive impact on this village. I will also keep an open ear to the ideas of individual residents about how to recapture the sense of promise that fueled that quality of life in this community in days prior.

I look forward to the next two years, as I become better acquainted with village residents. I have great confidence that we have the ability to make good things happen.

Just one #&$!! pipeline after another…

The market for natural gas in the northeastern U.S. is out of balance. There is too much supply in northern Pennsylvania and too much demand in New England. As a result, those producers are being paid much less than their consumers are paying. One solution is to add pipeline capacity, in order to ship the gas east.

In the fall of 2011, the Tennessee Gas Pipeline Company, LLC proposed a new thirty-six inch gas pipeline to run between two of its existing pipelines, from Brooklyn PA through Franklin to Wright NY (see NFR, Spring 2012) — only to abandon this Northeast Exchange project a few months later.  TGP never would say why they abandoned the Brooklyn/Wright line, but it was being bought by Kinder-Morgan Energy Partners, LC.  At any rate, Williams Partners, LP took over that route by proposing the Constitution project (see NFR, Summer 20122).

In the fall of 2012, TGP proposed the Northeast Expansion project, a gas pipeline from Wright NY to Dracut MA. In the recent solicitation to suppliers (February 13 to March 28), TGP proposed a capacity of this Wright/Dracut line of 0.6 to 2.2 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d). Because they are going forward, presumably TGP signed up enough supply, but we don’t know how many did.

For more than a year, it seemed as if TGP was content to plan for the Constitution Pipeline to supply gas to the input of this Northeast Expansion Pipeline in Wright. But the Constitution would supply only 0.6 to 0.8 Bcf/d. As a result of interest from Pennsylvania’s gas producers, TGP has revived plans for the Northeast Exchange. Originally it was to have a 0.6 Bcf/d capacity, but with no booster compressor station.

Now, the recent plan adds just such a station somewhere in Delaware County, which would increase capacity. If built, such a booster compressor would be located around the middle of the route. Currently it is planned for the North Franklin or west Davenport area, east of State Highway 28. Additional compression engines would have to be installed at existing compressor stations at the input in Clifford PA and the output in Wright NY.

Compressor stations make poor neighbors, polluting the air with noise and chemicals. The compressors spin 24/7/365, and the occasional venting sounds like a jet taking off. The small leaks and huge volumes of vented shale gas have been linked to a variety of signs of chemical poisoning such as headaches, dizziness, nausea, nose bleeds and rashes.

Together, the Northeast Exchange (southwestern half) and the Northeast Expansion (northeastern half) is being called the Northeast Energy Direct or NED. The southwestern half of this project, including the section through Franklin, has not even been pre-filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Of course the same was said about the Constitution Pipeline back in 2012.

In New York, the new TGP route is almost identical to the original one, but both show some differences from the Williams route of the Constitution. All three take a very similar path through Delaware County.

If both pipelines are built, their ill effects double. At best, a second strip of easements would double the width of the easement corridor and at worst, create two separate parallel strips. Construction in 2015 and then in 2017 would take twice as long. Wear and tear on roads would double, as would traffic congestion. Tax assessments of infrastructure and easement payments would likewise double, but this would be offset by decrease in assessments of affected parcels. Affected land owners would be twice cheated of fair compensation. And while there has been some talk of local distribution of gas, two pipelines would not make such a supply twice as cheap.

Currently the timeline is: taking bids from potential suppliers of gas – February/March  2014; contracts signed by suppliers – August 2014; and submitting an outline of the project to FERC (pre-filing) – September 2014, with the aim of beginning clearing brush and trees from the route by January 2017 and starting to ship gas to consumers after November 2018. Already along the pipeline route, affected landowners are receiving letters from the TGP subcontractor, The NLS Group, seeking permission for surveys.

At least TGP has the honesty to admit that a booster compressor is necessary, unlike Williams. Also they are clear that possible users of this gas could be “developers of liquefied natural gas (“LNG”) projects in New England and Atlantic Canada,” unlike Williams.

Once a utility corridor is established, it is easier to co-locate more utilities along it. But here we have an adjacent easement being proposed before the first is even certified by FERC.

What does this portend for our future?

https://franklinlocal.org/pipeline-fever/

https://franklinlocal.org/constitutional-confiscation/

Download a PDF copy of the New Franklin Register Issue #23 (7.3MB) by clicking on the image. See the index of this issue, and links to all previous issues, on the index page.

Issue #23, Vol. VIII No. 2, Summer 2014