In an effort to be transparent I admit owning shares in the oil and gas producing and transporting companies as well as solar, wind, and charging station companies. I watched the CEO of EQT saying how we only need new pipelines to reduce the consumer prices, give us security and still supply all our allies.

            The CEO blamed the government and the judicial system for keeping more pipelines from being built. He didn’t mention that people don’t want a pipeline going through their properties whether it is farmland, lightly populated or residential area. We know pipelines are not going to go through wealthy neighborhoods like the EQT CEOs.

            Gas pipelines explode, setting area homes on fire, and killing people. Oil pipelines ruin the earth and groundwater. My home sits on less than fifty foot of sand and gravel so any spillage of oil from a six foot deep pipeline would contaminate the ground water for hundreds of homes. The path for the Keystone would go through sand and gravel hundreds of feet thick. Water is scarce so the ground water is necessary for people and animals to drink and to irritate farmland. A leak could destroy hundreds of square miles of the aquifer forever.

            I worked in the oilfield as a teenager and we occasionally had small leaks on the three inch low pressure lines. Some of the places where we had leaks are still having trouble growing weeds much less crops. Imagine a thirty inch pipe with a thousand pound pressure spewing oil into an aquifer for a few hours or days.

            So before we criticize others for preventing a pipeline from going through their property, imagine it your property and the danger and damage that would come to your property and to your family.