I just returned from the FERC hearing
on the Constitution Pipeline, which was held right here in District
11, in the auditorium of the High School. It was a nice walk up and
back; it wasn't so pleasant inside.
You probably know that I'm concerned
about pipelines, and specifically this one, for a number of reasons.
They're more dangerous than proponents want you to believe. They
create new ecological niches and realities that we can't really
predict, contrary to the assurances of the proponents. They create
jobs, certainly, but out-of-area contract jobs, and when their
distinctive boom-bust cycle is over, the infrastructure created to
serve the workforce is abandoned, and all the associated jobs
disappear. They carry, in this region, anyway, fracked natural gas,
and can accommodate much more if fracking is approved in New York
State. They lead us further and further down the hydrocarbon road,
and further away from sustainable, renewable energy sources. And for
some reason, this private sector project whose only goal is to create
profit has access to the eminent domain process, where they can
essentially steal land from private citizens, paying only pennies on
the dollar.
As I walked through the parking lot, I
noticed the out-of-state plates and the buses (and one tractor
trailer with a union sign on it), suggesting that there was a lot of
organized attention being paid here. Inside, the auditorium was
full. Many signs were in evidence, and lots of guys (almost
exclusively males) had orange shirts proclaiming their love for the
pipeline.
OK. Lots of people with lots of
thoughts and opinions. Emotions were high. This was democracy in
action. Each side cheered for their speakers. The loudest response,
while I was there, was to a woman who claimed that the anti-pipeline
environmentalists were the 1%, the ultra-rich who want to turn the
Catskills into a wealthy person's playground. Given that the money –
lots of it – is flowing exactly in the opposite direction, the
clamorous cheering for this point exposed some embarrassing
ignorance. Still – OK. Thomas Jefferson said that this kind of
thing would happen, and championed democracy anyway.
What led me to leave long before the
end was the rudeness. The poor bureaucrats on stage had little
control over the shouting back and forth, namecalling and unpleasant
comments which peppered the evening. When I left, one of the
speakers had whipped both sides into a deafening frenzy, and I hoped
that the two OPD officers stationed on stage were able to restore
order.
We can disagree, but if we can't be
civil, we've given up civilization. And then what are we fighting
for?
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