Voters in Vergennes approved the City Council’s letter of support for a natural gas pipeline expansion in Addison County. A distribution line would serve the city.
In a nonbinding referendum Tuesday evening, voters endorsed the councilors’ support for Vermont Gas Systems’ proposed 41.2-mile, $86.6 million natural gas pipeline passing through Addison County.
Residents approved the council’s endorsement of the pipeline by a vote of 345-143. The council’s letter of support was issued last December.
Steve Wark, director of communications for Vermont Gas, said the vote reaffirmed that there is a silent majority that will benefit from the pipeline expansion.
Wark said about 98 percent of homeowners in Vergennes will have the option to use natural gas if the project is approved. The pipeline will also benefit UTC Aerospace Systems, a supplier of aerospace and defense products, and Vergennes Union High School, Wark said. He said the school is expected to save up to $60,000 per year on heating costs with natural gas.
The Public Service Board has not approved the first phase of the pipeline expansion, a decision expected by the end of the year.
Rising Tide Vermont, along with other environmental advocacy groups, oppose the pipeline because Vermont Gas sources some of its natural gas from hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” a process banned in Vermont and associated with negative environmental impacts.
Two environmental activist groups, Toxics Action Center and Rising Tide Vermont, have circulated a petition opposing the pipeline.
Avery Pittman, a volunteer for Rising Tide Vermont, said the vote does not indicate region-wide support for the pipeline. She said some towns will have to host the transmission mainline while others will be minimally impacted by the project.
“They are getting most of the benefits without hosting a huge transmission pipe,” she said. “The impacts are disproportionately hosted by other people.”
The proposed transmission line passes to the east of U.S. 7 down from Colchester to Middlebury. A distribution line would provide gas service to Vergennes, according to a map of the project.
Pittman said Vermont Gas has been working with communities not directly hit by the transmission line as part of a “divide and conquer” strategy to win support for the project while paying off homeowners affected by the pipeline.
“I completely disagree with it, our goal is to be a good neighbor,” Wark said in response to the claim. “I can’t think of a town we don’t serve with a transmission line going through it.”
Wark said the opposition fades when Vermont Gas speaks with home and business owners.
“When people get to know us, they don’t have those sorts of issues,” he said.
The town of Monkton, which is located in the path of the transmission mainline, signed a memorandum of understanding with Vermont Gas this summer setting guidelines for the project and commitments for natural gas services in the area. However, several Monkton residents have criticized Vermont Gas over the process of negotiating easements.
Meanwhile, Vermont Gas has applied for the second phase to extend a natural gas pipeline from Middlebury, through the towns of Cornwall and Shoreham, and under Lake Champlain to the International Paper Mill in Ticonderoga, N.Y.
Vermont Gas officials say the second phase of the expansion would bring gas service to Rutland 15 years sooner, which is the third phase of the project, and would pass a large portion of the cost of the 10-inch transmission lines onto International Paper Mill.
