Debunking Spectra

Dear Mr C,

While I apologize for the length of my compressor station submissions, my purpose is to inform. Short quips and jabs are easy but the issues are complex. You are right, risk is a relative thing… and while most of us must drive a car, we can choose not to use a gas grill. We also have the option to make intelligent decisions about our energy future and weigh the relative risks of our choices. I have no problem with fixing the existing Algonquin and leaving it in place. But if we are being asked to believe there is a natural gas shortage in our region, wouldn’t it just make sense to fix the leaks? We would be saving gas while improving our environmental/health/ safety conditions. A win- win. But fixing pipes would be expensive and like all corporations Spectra’s goal is to make money. All pipelines eventually leak and corrode and the 20,000 leaks in our state are documented if you check into it.

Also for your information we pay for the lost gas. To use your Walmart analogy both companies (Spectra and Walmart) “stay in business” by making the consumer pay for their losses. Retailers build into their pricing overhead/waste/theft and pass it on to their customers…a business plan that works- especially if you don’t talk about it. If I was a CEO at Spectra, and had a long term plan to export out of Canada through New England, I’d use the ensuing years prepping the public to believe that gas was a “clean” fuel. Then (despite a considerable regional gas overdependence) I’d convince them the high cost of electricity was because they didn’t have enough gas. Then I’d launch my pipeline project on the fears of shortages once outdated facilities are set to close. And then I’d cap it off by promising of billion dollars in savings once my pipeline got built- even better, I’d try to make the suckers pay for it too!

What about all of those incentives promising HUGE SAVINGS that encouraged everyone to convert to gas from oil for home heating fuel? After factoring in the cost to convert, how much in savings did people actually realize once they made the switch? As soon as they went to gas, the price of oil plummeted. Today we are no better able at predicting the price of decayed dinosaur bones then we were then. The price of gas will fluctuate and most likely rise but that won’t stop Spectra from dangling that “1 billion-dollar savings in our electric bill” carrot before the public. If you believe that one I’ve got a bridge to nowhere I’d like to sell...

Tracy Manzella
Citizens Against the Rehoboth Compressor Station (CARCS)

Norehobothcompressor.com.