Wednesday, August 7, 2013

THIS is Kentucky Proud: No Fracking Waste Pipeline Here

If Bluegrass Pipeline Partners think they're going to just sweep through the Commonwealth by tricking a bunch of dumb Kentucky hicks into selling their birthright for pocket change, they've got a nasty surprise coming.

Last night Anderson County became the fourth county - after Franklin, Scott and Marion - to pass a resolution rejecting the pipeline and calling on Governor Beshear and the legislature to deny eminent domain rights to the pipeline company. The resolution passed unanimously to the loud applause of more than 100 people in attendance.

Today at 3 p.m., pipeline opponents will gather at the Capitol to present to Governor Beshear a 2,500-plus-name petition demanding he add NGL pipeline regulation to the call for the special session of the legislature next week.

At 5 p.m., pipeline opponents will fill the Paul Sawyier Library in Frankfort to hear - and record - pipeline company representatives repeat the lies they've been telling all over the Bluegrass for the past four months.

Pipeline opponents will also have reams of facts sheets and documentation on the true nature of the pipeline; the dangers it presents; its utter lack of benefit to the state and landowners; the company's long, horrific record of pipeline leaks, breaks, explosions and fatalities; the truth about eminent domain and much, much more.

Anderson Judge-Executive John Wayne Conway opened the fiscal court meeting by making clear that the pipeline company representatives had repeatedly failed to answer his questions about the pipeline or to provide him any of the information he requested.  Company representatives had also refused his invitation to speak at last night's meeting.

Several speakers confirmed that pipeline representatives changed their stories, refused to answer questions and outright lied.

"They told my neighbors I'm for the pipeline," one man said, "but I am NOT.  They lied."

 Landowner Ron Howard said his bankers told him that if he allows the pipeline on his property they would not extend credit for his livestock.

"I'm having to fight to keep for what I've worked for all my life," he said, warning his neighbors: "Be careful what you sign.  Stick together.  This pipeline is nothing but a hazard."

Virtually everyone there opposed the pipeline; on the signup sheet a couple of people wrote as their concern "want to hear both sides," but all 100-plus others wrote "No Pipeline!"

Brian Smith said he is worried about the pipeline's long-term effect on the land he inherited from his grandparents and hopes to leave to his children and grandchildren. He said the company reps "will tell you what you want to hear, and offer you money." They don't care about Kentucky, he said. "They just want to make their money and get out."

He concluded: "Please beware!"

Andrew Berry, the father of a toddler who just built a house in Anderson County two years ago, warned that allowing surveys gave the company leverage to demand eminent domain.

Another speaker pleaded: "Tell your state legislators and go to Frankfort tomorrow and tell them we don't want it in this county."

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