Letter to the Editor: The proposed Bluegrass NGL pipeline will affect YOU

Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2013

Dear Editor,

Something wicked this way comes to Hardin County, represented by a firm that employs our Governor’s son, cloaked with smiles and promises, but ready to ooze dark miasma into our beloved Hardin County ground, water, and air by people who have no allegiance to place, or reason for being here, but to profit themselves and their shareholders.

Seeking cheaply sold “easements” and claiming “eminent domain” to take over landowner’s rights along a proposed 18 county route which includes Hardin, the Williams Companies, which have a documented history of local and federal noncompliance, fines, pipeline explosions, and leaks, is pushing to have a natural gas liquids (NGL) pipeline up and running by 2015 that travels through our Heartland.

As of this letter, Williams has declined to voluntarily conduct a comprehensive environmental impact assessment. Pipeline operators often understate or misrepresent the consequences of NGL pipeline releases. In Williams’ case, there are numerous documented records of leaks and explosions dating back to 1992, (including a few listed below,) as well as numerous fines for safety violations and noncompliance. Based on documented records, Williams does not have a history of responding responsibly to citizen and governmental concerns, even when there are clear safety risks identified.

June 2013 – Louisiana – Williams Geismar Plant explosion and fire; 2 deaths, 62,000 lbs. toxic chemicals released, 70 injuries, revealing 3 years of noncompliance with Federal Clean Air Act.

May 2013 – Susquehanna County, Penn. – Explosion – Williams compressor station-Williams restarted the damaged station within 24 hours of the explosion, ignoring instructions from the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection not to.

Mar 2013 – Marshall County, West Va. – Williams pipeline rupture.

Dec 2012 – Parachute, Colo. leak starts – not detected by Williams until Jan 2013, after benzene, a cancer causing agent, had already contaminated the soil and groundwater.

Dec 2011 – Marengo County, Ala. – Explosion – Transco Pipeline-scorches 8 acres, burns for several hours.

Sep 2008 – Richmond, Va. – Williams pipeline explosion.

June 1999 – Belllingham, Wash. – Williams pipeline explosion kills three young people.

Natural gas liquids (NGL) to be carried by the pipeline, are NOT the natural gas that you use in your home. They are components of natural gas that are separated from the gaseous state in the form of liquids, which Williams’ own specifications state are composed of the following: methane, ethane, ethylene, propane, butane, carbon dioxide, volatile sulfur, hydrogen sulfide, hexanes, and pentanes. Under minimum federal pipeline safety regulations, NGL is classified as a highly volatile liquid (HVL.)

Why should you care if the NGL Bluegrass Pipeline doesn’t go through your personal property? A major reason is because Hardin, Larue, Breckenridge County, and several other counties in the proposed pipeline’s path are composed primarily of intense karst areas that are characterized by sinkholes, sinking streams, caves, and springs. A release or explosion of an NGL would produce dangerous hydrocarbon vapor clouds with the potential to immediately kill birds and mammals and cause severe respiratory and nervous system injury or even death to humans. The heavier natural gasoline components (aside from the ethane, propane, and butane)in NGL, which do NOT readily vaporize, would swiftly spread and contaminate a karst aquifer, smothering and killing aquatic life and poisoning the water with cancer causing agents . Many of our public water systems are using water from a karst aquifer when they withdraw from a stream or reservoir. Homes on wells drawing from karst aquifers or springs would also be affected.

The Bluegrass Pipeline proposed route in Hardin and adjacent counties threatens aquifers and should not be situated in these areas because of the sensitive water zones and nearly impossible cleanup and remediation in karst areas. Also, the karst terrain provides an unstable foundation for pipes carrying highly volatile substances. Some of the other possible threats of the proposed pipeline include the dangers of pipeline construction, environmental destruction, and localized air pollution from constantly running compressor stations.

If you live in Hardin County or one of the other counties along the proposed route, contact your county judge-executive for more information. Demand a public hearing in which you are allowed to ask questions and present information in front of an audience. If you have been contacted by Williams to survey your property, please do not allow them to survey until you have done your research on their company history and practices. For more information on the proposed Bluegrass Pipeline, visit: http://www.stopbluegrasspipeline.us/p/resources.html

Lara Beard
Elizabethtown, Kentucky

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