Rehoboth, Attleboro and Seekonk Businesses Step up to the Plate

Tuesday afternoon, at Evergreen Tree & Landscape in Seekonk, CARCS unveiled a list of 181 local business signatures to an audience of business owners, residents and legislators, who came together to lend their support in the fight against Spectra Energy. It was rewarding to have Senator Timilty, Representative Howitt and Representative Heroux as speakers, who each described the ways they are working to derail Spectra’s plans.
Endorsement forms were signed (here and across our state) calling on Governor Baker to withdraw his support for new and expanded gas infrastructure, asking him to keep our state moving towards a path of competitive clean energy. Our Governor prides himself on being a good businessman, and he says he cares about local businesses. His policy supporting more gas capacity encourages an energy monopoly which drives out competition, which is bad for consumers- business owners, and residents alike. Since we already get 60% of electricity from natural gas, we should be moving toward a more diverse energy portfolio- and businesses get it! From auto-body repair shops, to real estate agents, veterinarians, contractors, dentists, pharmacies, pizza shops and more- the local business community (despite being assailed by Spectra Energy visits and phone calls) knows that if a project can’t be financed without a giant public subsidy, that’s a big red flag.
Beyond the broader fiscal concerns, most local business owners are residents too- sharing the same concerns about health and safety, and wishing to preserve their quality of life. Unfortunately issues such as these predictably hang in the balance, when communities are put at the mercy of companies whose priority is profit over people.
“We are small business owners in Rehoboth Massachusetts and are deeply concerned with the Spectra pipeline.” Said Marie Soliday, owner of local business Confectionery Designs in Rehoboth. “It is detrimental to both residents and business owners. We value our health of our families and our township.”
Last Tuesday was an milestone for CARCS and our communities, a day when residents, business owners and our legislators stood together calling on our Governor to stop supporting new natural gas expansion in our state. We stand at a crossroads and now is the time to move forward not backward, and increasing our fossil fuel dependency, building new pipeline infrastructure and compressor stations is a major step in the wrong direction. Now is the time to throw our support behind a 21st century clean energy economy, not more pipelines and fracked gas- and it’s nice to know we do not stand alone.


Tracy Manzella
NoRehobothCompressor.com