Newsletters

January, 2016 - Gas Pipelines, Sheep Laurel, Meadow Vole

WELCOME TO GREEN FUTURES !
JANUARY, 2016

“We don't have a society if we destroy the environment.

- Margaret Mead

“Destroying the rainforest for economic gain is like burning a Renaissance painting to cook a meal.”

- E. O. Wilson

 

 

GREED! EXPORTING U. S. GAS FOR PRIVATE WEALTH DRIVING PIPELINE PROPOSALS – Is it all about the LNG?

Before we get to the pipelines ...should we even be fracking?http://www.pressconnects.com/story/news/local/fracking/2015/11/23/promise-fracking-lessens-pennsylvania/76052604/

 

Massachusetts is awash in fracked Marcellus and Utica shale gas pipeline proposals. The largest and longest is the high-pressure pipeline proposed by Kinder Morgan from New York through Richmond, Massachusetts and then across Berkshire and Franklin Counties to Dracut, north of Lowell. This pipeline will also have spur lines branching off to Pittsfield, Fitchburg, Worcester, Haverhill, Pepperell, Lynnfield.

 

Another fracked gas pipeline proposal is from a Kinder Morgan subsidiary, Tennessee Gas Pipeline Company, called the Connecticut Pipeline Expansion Project. This pipeline will be a 36” diameter line in Massachusetts through Berkshire and Hampden Counties in Massachusetts and a 24” diameter line through Hartford County, Connecticut.

 

And, yet another pipeline proposal, this one from Eversource Energy, formerly Northeast Utilities, is expanding the existing gas pipeline through southern Bristol County to bring fracked gas and a new pipeline to Acushnet, Massachusetts, where the gas will be liquified and stored in two humungous tanks.

 

ALL of these pipelines, as presently proposed, will not only run through thousands of acres of private property, but will also destroy vast swaths of public forest and park land, our land, and we will all be paying for this destruction because costs will be passed along through new charges on our utility bills.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) makes the final decision on whether these gas pipeline proposals proceed to completion. FERC will hold public meetings and take comments, but they will always find for their Big Energy bosses.

It is a shame that United States citizens have to fight their own government, but with courage, resilience, resolve and perseverance these battles can be won.

Here is how we handled an absurd proposal from Hess LNG and their FERC allies, amazingly, only a few years ago. Then, the Big Energy companies were proposing massive LNG import regasification and storage facilities in just about every poor community where they thought they could have their way, “because we desperately need 'clean burning' natural gas.” Today, we have so much fracked methane Big Energy sees huge dollar signs in building pipelines and liquefaction facilities for LNG exports overseas.

Here's a synopsis of our long and painful campaign from only a few years ago.

 

“We finally put a stake through the vampire’s heart. I believed that we had driven a stake through this vampire’s heart several years ago, and I’m very pleased that it has finally laid down and died.– Barney Frank

Love him or hate him you have to admit US Representative Barney Frank speaks his mind and has a way with words. And, in this instance, we agree with him …100%!

Here’s our Joe Carvalho with a wonderful “Guest Opinion” in the June 16^th The Herald News.

GUEST OPINION: After long fight is won, anti-LNG group hopeful, vigilant

By Joe Carvalho

Coalition for Responsible Siting of LNG Facilities


“Those who say that something cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it.” — Chinese Proverb

I returned to the city of my birth some 11 years ago, content with engaging myself with my work and my love of music, nature and books, until I read of a proposal to build a monstrous liquefied natural gas terminal in the North End of the city. The more I learned of the project, the more concerned I became. The letters “LNG” initially meant little to me but I soon became only too familiar with all of its potentially devastating possibilities.

I attended a presentation by the company, Weaver’s Cove Energy, LLC, to the local environmental group Green Futures, and was struck not only by the magnitude and scale of the project and its potential negative impacts on the neighborhood and the city as a whole, but also by the arrogance of the company’s presenters.

During the lengthy question and answer session, one of the Weaver’s Cove presenters dismissed many of our group’s legitimate concerns, remarking that, “I could be home relaxing instead of being here (in Fall River) answering these ridiculous questions.”

Shortly after that meeting, a small group of concerned citizens met at the
Newport Creamery on President Avenue and discussed the need for a coalition to oppose the LNG project.

A chairperson was needed to head the coalition and, in the absence of anyone stepping up, I agreed to be the acting chairperson for a “few months” until a permanent chairperson could be found. Little did I know that it would take nine years to kill the ill-conceived Weaver’s Cove/Hess-LNG project.

At the outset, the coalition stated that we were not opposed to LNG as a part of the country’s energy needs. Our sole and overriding concern was where this project looked to be located, in a densely populated neighborhood in the city’s North End. As a result of our concern, we named our group the Coalition for Responsible Siting of LNG Facilities, accentuating the term RESPONSIBLE to indicate our intention.

Initially, some local elected officials were cajoled into thinking the project might benefit the city, hearing the company’s exaggerated and unrealistic claims of jobs, gas-powered vehicles for city use, etc.
These officials, once educated as to the overwhelming negative aspects of the project on public safety, economic development of the waterfront and irreversible environmental impacts soon changed their opinion and strongly opposed the project.

Our opposition faced several obstacles, not the least being the rather evident collusion between the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, or FERC, and the company, Weaver’s Cove/Hess-LNG. Noting that the company had some 33 meetings with the FERC board over the course of the initial years of the project, while then Fall River Mayor Edward Lambert had to wait several months for a single meeting with that same FERC board.

Compounding the collusion was the fact that FERC Commission Chairman, Patrick H. Wood III, formerly worked for Baker Botts, the law firm representing Weaver’s Cove/Hess-LNG. Chairman Wood, ignoring any democratic concepts of a conflict of interest, refused to recuses himself from FERC’s vote on siting the project. The U.S. Navy, stationed in Newport, R.I., had initially cited many concerns regarding the giant LNG supertankers transiting Narragansett Bay, but, mysteriously, these concerns were quickly dismissed and the Navy did a flip-flop on the issue.

The defeat of this proposal was the work of many groups and elected officials. Certainly, the Coalition that I was fortunate to lead was the foremost grassroots, all volunteer entity to engage in the fight, but the efforts of Green Futures, Save the Bay, Save Bristol Harbor, and the Kickemuit River Council were all critical to the effort. Governors and other state, federal and municipal elected officials also played key roles in their opposition, especially U.S. Reps. Barney Frank and James McGovern, who worked tirelessly on their districts’ behalf. Individuals who made up the Coalition were the driving force and inspiration behind our success.

Two of those members stand out for their contributions and courage: Lee Weiner, of Somerset, who, though needing the support of a walker, traveled to Boston on several occasions and marched outside of events where the
Hess hierarchy were in attendance, or picketed Hess gas stations in Somerset and Fall River. Mrs. Lillian Goldsmith, who passed away last year and was an early and ardent Coalition member and who hardly ever missed a monthly meeting, even while battling the cancer that would eventually take her life and requiring the presence of a portable oxygen tank, served as an inspiration to us all.

The efforts of Coalition members John Keppel, Michael Miozza and David Fredericks, through their research on thermal exclusion zones, wedge lot ownership, cryogenic pipelines and a host of other pertinent concerns served to place insurmountable obstacles in the way of this profit driven project.

The efforts, commitment and resolve of so many regular, ordinary citizens, acting in extraordinary ways, together, are what ultimately led to the victory we all now share. The future of the region and the greater community is more promising now than at any time in the past nine years.

While we remain vigilant for as yet unforeseen threats to our public safety, waterfront economic development, and environment, we are hopeful in the future.

 

 

ENVIRONMENTALLY INTERESTING STUFF RECEIVED FROM OUR READERS

Your mites tell where you are from. http://goo.gl/7IhuKQ.

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) ignores the public. We learned this quickly during our battle to prevent Hess LNG from locating a gigantic LNG import facility in a heavily populated residential neighborhood. Fix FERC now! http://fixferc.com/

C-Span – Paris Climate Change Agreement 2015. http://www.c-span.org/video/?402085-1/us-special-envoy-climate-change-todd-stern-paris-agreement

South Coast Neighbors United, http://www.scnu.us/, fight LNG expansion project.

http://www.southcoasttoday.com/article/20151210/NEWS/151219858

MA AG Healey says we don't need it. http://www.mass.gov/ago/docs/energy-utilities/reros-study-final.pdf

From “American Scientific” on climate skeptics. http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-climate-skeptics-are-wrong/

African forests. A lot of talk, but not a lot of action? http://www.foxnews.com/world/2015/12/05/at-climate-talks-african-nations-pledge-to-restore-forests.html

Environmental League of Massachusetts Global Warming Solutions Project. http://environmentalleague.org/page.php?id=47

FANG! Building, supporting and escalating nonviolent resistance to the natural gas industry while supporting other movements for justice. https://www.facebook.com/FANGtogether/

 

 

TAKING BETS - How long will this one last?

The Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation has a new commissioner, a retread from 18 years ago.

 

Part of the press release from Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs Matthew Beaton:

 

December 9, 2015 – Today, Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA) Secretary Matthew Beaton announced that Leo Roy will serve as Commissioner of the Department of Conservation and Recreation. “Leo brings a substantial amount of experience, dedication and knowledge to the Department of Conservation and Recreation,” said EEA Secretary Matthew Beaton. “His qualifications and skill set will ensure that the public will continue to benefit and enjoy additional recreational opportunities, while simultaneously laying the groundwork to conserve and preserve the state’s natural resources for future generations to come.”

 

“I am honored to join the Baker-Polito Administration and am excited for the opportunity to work with Secretary Beaton and the dedicated staff within the Department of Conservation and Recreation,” said Leo Roy. “The Department’s parks, pools, rinks, beaches, forests, watersheds, and historic properties are enjoyed by so many Massachusetts residents, and their stewardship is a significant responsibility.”

 

Leo Roy returns to public service after 15 years in the private sector, most recently as a Principal at VHB – an infrastructure planning, design, engineering, and environmental firm.

 

Previously, Roy served as Massachusetts Undersecretary of Environmental Affairs from 1992 to 1997.

 

 

Do you think Commissioner Roy's “qualifications and skill set” will ensure that land damage due to DCR negligence is repaired and is never allowed to happen again at Freetown State Forest?

 

 

 

 

BIORESERVE FLORA OF THE MONTH – Sheep Laurel (Kalmia angustifolia)

 

Sheep laurel, also known a lambkill, is in the Ericaceae (heath) family along with azaleas, rhododendrons,trailing arbutus, pipsissewa, wintergreen, Labrador tea, bearberries, cranberries, blueberries, huckleberries,crowberries that thrive in northeastern North America on acidic, infertile, poorly drained to dry soil often in company with scrub oak, pitch pine, bayberry, sweet fern, juniper and cedar.

 

Sheep laurel can be found growing in its preferred habitat from northern Ontario and Quebec south to Virginia.

 

Sheep laurel shrubs grow from rhizomes, singly or in colonies, to a height of three feet. The alternate leaves are evergreen, blue-green narrow ovals shiny on top, paler beneath.

 

In early summer clusters of saucer-shaped deep-pink to red flowers cover the sheep laurel shrubs. Forest bees, butterflies and moths pollinate the flowers. Following pollination a round capsule forms containing seeds that ripen over summer. In early fall, at maturity, the capsule splits open releasing its seeds.

 

Sheep laurel foliage and flowers contain a powerful glycoside, andromedotoxin, poisonous to herbivores, hence the other common name for this shrub, “lambkill.” There are a few insects ...lace bugs, weevils, white flies ..that feed on sheep laurel. Everything else? ...Don't eat it!

 

BIORESERVE FAUNA OF THE MONTH – Meadow Vole (Microtus pennsylvanicus)

Photo courtesy Creative Commons, Flickr - Rob English

 

As a small child did you ever read or have read to you any of the Thornton Burgess animal story books? His children's books are classics and are still available today.

To make his animal stories understandable and relatable to children Burgess anthropomorphized the animals in his books, but he was careful to keep their true natural characteristics and habits authentic.

One of the popular Burgess' books is titled, “The Adventures of Danny Mouse.” In the book Danny is despondent that he has such a short tail. He is envious of those animals that have long, beautiful tails. Danny also has frequent encounters with the numerous predators that would like to have him for dinner, but by thinking things out and using his wits he eventually learns to accept his appearance and avoids those hunting for a meal.

The only major error in Burgess' meadow mouse story is that Danny is not a mouse ...he is a vole.

Meadow voles are what some folks, in error, call meadow mice or field mice. Nope, they are not mice. Although both voles and mice are rodents, a vole is a vole and a mouse is a mouse.

Voles have chubby bodies, short legs and short tails. Mice are slim with long tails and long legs. Voles have larger heads than mice and blunt rather than pointy snouts.

Meadow voles are 4 to 6 inches in length. They have dark brown fur with black guard hairs on their back and sides and gray to tan fur on their underside. Males and females are the same size and color.

Meadow voles burrow underground, climb small trees and can swim. In the summer voles are active day and night foraging for seeds, fruit, fungi, succulent vegetation and insects in thick meadow grasses where they can stay well hidden. They store food in underground chambers for the winter.

In the winter they mainly forage at night burrowing under snow and eating the bark off succulent roots and the trunks of small saplings. During bitter winter cold spells they often congregate and nest communally to conserve body heat.

The meadow vole ranges across most of Alaska and Canada and the northern United States extending south along the eastern United States to northern Georgia.

Female voles are very aggressive and dominant over males. Males fight among themselves over territory during the summer mating season. After mating females dig a nursery chamber, lined with leaves and soft grass, where in three weeks they will give birth to between 4 and 6 young. Young are weaned at 2 weeks old and they are mature and capable of breeding at 2 months old. Voles may have as many as three broods a year.

Almost everything carnivorous and omnivorous eats voles. Here's a partial list of some local vole predators: Coyote, red fox, gray fox, long tailed weasel, striped skunk, feral house cats, opossum, raccoon, mink, short tailed shrew, black racer, milk snake, northern water snake, garter snake, snapping turtle, bullfrog, largemouth bass, brown trout, bald eagle, screech owl, great horned owl, snowy owl, long eared owl, short eared owl, marsh hawk, red tailed hawk, red shouldered hawk, Cooper's hawk, rough legged hawk, sharp-shinned hawk, American kestrel, raven, common crow, fish crow, great black-backed gull, herring gull, great blue heron, black crowned night heron, great egret, American bittern, sandhill crane.

With all these vole eaters out there Danny Meadow Mouse Vole better keep his wits about him. To hear Thornton Burgess' “The Adventures of Danny Meadow Mouse click here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0sw2tgLGPs

Information on Thornton Burgess, here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thornton_Burgess

 

WINTER – Do it in the snow! Be quick ...the days are getting longer

Yes, we had way too much snow last winter. Usually, we here in southeastern Massachusetts, have rather open winters with most snowstorms depositing 3 to 6 inches and then a mild warm up that melts away the snow before the next storm comes calling.

Take advantage of those snowy opportunities for a walk, ski or snowshoe through area woods. Walking through the winter forest is a whole different experience from walking through in the summertime. And, no black flies, deer flies nor mosquitoes.

New England has four seasons. Isn't that wonderful? Each season has different offerings. Take advantage. Have an outdoor adventure.

Click here to see what's on our calendar.

Happy New Year!!!  

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