Okay, here is what I sent to Lt. Gov. Northam at [email protected]: Dear Lt. Gov. Northam, I was very disturbed today to read this in The Washington Post: Northam drew a sharp line between the pipeline and fracking. These folks that want to frack ... if they can’t say that it can be done safely and without contaminating our source of water, then I would be adamantly opposed, he said. I see the gas line as really different from fracking.” Please understand that the primary environmental reason for opposing the pipeline is not because of the damage fracking is already doing to the environment in the Marcellus Shale or because of the damage future fracking might do in Virginia. It is because of the damage that laying the pipeline in the Shenandoah Valley will do. Dominion and Duke want to combine to lay about 450 miles of pipe from WVA through the Shenandoah Valley, just south of Staunton in Augusta County, over mountains, through farm land, even over the Appalachian Trail. In VA, the pipe will be 42 inches in diameter, the largest that is available, moving gas at close to the maximum allowable pressure. The most immediate problem with all of this is that the entire Shenandoah Valley is underpinned by very fragile, porous limestone karst formations that are constantly shifting and cause frequent sinkholes, usually abruptly and often very deep. The karst in Augusta County is particularly volatile, called long karst, because the fissures in it are long. This means not only that sinkholes are more frequent and more dangerous, more likely to cause explosions like the one in Appomattox in 2008, but even a leak will allow the gas to leech through the limestone at the speed of a running man, so it can pollute waters miles away from the leak before anyone can do anything about it. This could threaten well water all over the Valley. Also, Augusta County is the only place in Va where waters flow out, not in. The county is at the headwaters of the James and the Shenandoah Rivers and the pipeline will also cross the Middle River. All of these are part of the Chesapeake watershed, and the Shenandoah feeds the Potomac, so it can also affect the drinking water of Washington, D.C. Oh, and Dominion has never laid 42-inch pipe before. There have already been leaks and ruptures. We have been lucky that the much smaller pipe laid by Columbia Gas through the Valley has not already caused any serious damage. I do not believe it is wise to press our luck. Dominion has no answer for how their pipe will remain intact if a 20-foot sinkhole opens up under it. And there is no way to predict that or to prevent it from happening. Virginias own Department of Mines and Minerals says explicitly: Pipeline infrastructure, underlain by karst terrain, can be damaged by a collapse in the supporting soil. If it happens in an inhabited area, the damage to property and life could be enormous. If it happens in the wilderness, the damage to forests and wildlife will be equally horrible, including fires like the ones we see out west. In both cases, the contamination of precious water resources will be irredeemable. Putting this pipeline anywhere in the Shenandoah Valley is a stupid and dangerous idea on its own merits, and the benefits of getting cheaper natural gas to some parts of Virginia, mostly the rich northern region, are far outweighed by the damage the pipeline will do to Virginia and Virginians who must live near it. Your support and the Governors for this proposed pipeline flies in the face of the states own experts. Please do not let economics trump science in your decision. Reconsider your position. =============== I will let you know if I get a response.
Posted on: Sun, 14 Sep 2014 23:05:39 +0000
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