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Cheryl Golek, I would like to respond to Bob Ring'
letter 10/26 he placed a quote of mine in his letter. he only quoted a
piece of the paragraph here is the whole statement.
Fairwinds say their tankers are safe. One reason
given is that they are double hulled. Well in Yemen, October 6th 2002, a
French double hulled oil tanker was rammed and pierced by a terrorist
act, spilling approximately 90,000 barrels of oil and caused a massive
fire. While it was an oil tanker it was the same double hull design of a
LNG tanker. This info came from www.itopf.com/newsarchive.html
Bob disagrees with this is a quote from his letter
"I know the Terrorist possibility scares many of
you but consider that there has not been an act of piracy or terrorism on
ships off the coast of the USA since the war of 1812. If we look at this
project and deny it because of the possibility of terrorism then we have
become a victim of that terrorism. The above quote is more likely to
happen off of Yemen. Not off the coast of the Harpswell."
Bob states, "it is more likely to happen off of
Yemen. Not likely off the coast of Harpswell." Peter Micciche say's the
possibility of a terrorist attack in Harpswell is slim. Bob can only say
[not] likely, and Peter can only say slim, because it is not impossible.
After September 11th how can anyone think that a
terrorist threat anywhere in the united states is impossible. I have
attached the the letter in which Bob quoted me from, it has several site
in it check them out for yourselves.
Feeling lost in my own home town. Since the first
time I heard of the Fairwinds project I have been upset, and since then I
have experienced all kinds of emotions over it, from anger, to tears, to
just down right depression and frustration.
After reading the newspapers and the last edition
of the Harpswell anchor, and oh thank God for Harpswell public television
and all the time Dave Chipman and the other staff at channel 14 are
putting in, because of all of the information I know that I am not the
only one in this town who is struggling with the thought of Fairwinds
moving in. There has been a lot said about this project, but no where
near as much has been said that needs, and discussed.
While it is
nice that the final vote date has been moved to Jan
20th, I don't see how all of the things that are not answered will be.
Furthermore, I don't see how our selectmen are expecting us to vote on
this with out those answers, it is just wrong that they are asking us to
do this. If Fairwinds isn't going to give this town enough time to get
accurate answers from somebody that they are not paying for, the
selectmen should take the proposal off the table and tell them to go
home.
Well down to the point of what sparked this letter,
it was the October 16th meeting, and then the insert in the special
edition of the Harpswell anchor. The thing that has got to me is at the
October 16th meeting one of the selectmen's response to a fishermen's
statement that one LNG tanker was equivalent to fifty five
Hiroshima bombs, was that it was a bogus statement
and a scare tactic. I am not quoting word for word, but what got to me
was the fact that the selectmen made the comment that this was a scare
tactic.
I have read the same thing. One LNG tanker is
equivalent to approximately 55
Hiroshima bombs, or the energy content of a single
LNG tanker is equivalent to seven tenths of a mega ton of TNT, and I am
sure I probably read it from the same website. Is it true I don't know.
What I do know is true, is that LNG is not as safe as our selectmen are
telling us, or I should say Fairwinds is telling them and us. Here are
some facts that I have read and places you can find this info.
1. Fairwinds has mentioned the 1944
Cleveland Disaster, I heard Peter make a statement
at the brown bag lunch meeting that it killed 128 people, but that was
then, and you know there was a time when we didn't know that seat belts
would save our lives either. This is not meant to be a word for word
quote. There is no comparison of the safety of LNG
and us wearing a seat belt. That is a bogus statement. So what hasn't
been said about the 1944 accident is this LNG holding tanks failed and
released their contents into the streets and sewers and their vaporous
cloud ignited and a fire engulfed covering approximately one square mile
of
Cleveland Ohio. It destroyed 79 homes, two
factories, 217 cars, 7 trailers, it left 680 people homeless, injured 225
people, and yes, it did kill 128 people. Yes, I am sure things have been
made safer since then but if there ever was a leak and it caused a
vaporous cloud that size imagine the damage that would be done. This info
came from
www.timrileylaw.com/LNG.htm. There are pictures at this site of
this disaster.
2.Greeley tribune published on March 25th and 26th
2003. It may be months before investigators find the cause of an
explosion and fire that lit up the sky north of Greeley Colorado a 24in
pipeline exploded and left a crater a 1,000 feet long, 50 feet wide and
20 feet deep, and created a 500 foot tower of flames. A 35-foot-long
section of the pipe was blown out of the hole and then split length. This
came from
www.greeleytrib.com.
Pictures of the damage can be seen here. 3. August 19th, near Carlsbad,
New Mexico. A Saturday morning pipeline explosion of a 30 in pipe was
visible for 20 miles north of Carlsbad, NM. As a result of the fire seven
adults, three children, and two infants were fatally injured. It
destroyed three pick up trucks and miscellaneous camping equipment.
Burning fuel rained down on the victims. This can be seen at
http://www.abcnews.go.com/sections/us/DailyNews/blast000821.html (dead
link
or you can link to it from
www.timrileylaw.com/LNG.htm for a full report. You can get a
copy of this report, along with many more pipeline accidents at www.ntsb.gov/Publictn/P_Acc.htm.
4. Fairwinds say their tankers are safe. One reason
given is that they are double hulled. Well in Yemen, October 6th 2002, a
French double hulled oil tanker was rammed and pierced by a terrorist
act, spilling approximately 90,000 barrels of oil and caused a massive
fire. While it was an oil tanker it was the same double hull design of a
LNG tanker. This info came from www.itopf.com/newsarchive.html
and
www.timrileylaw.com/LNG.htm
5. Fairwinds' pretty pictures, only tell quarter
truths. Their pictures are misleading, for example, the insert from
Fairwinds in the special edition of the Harpswell Anchor 3rd page, it
shows a picture under the title "THE TOWN WILL CHOSE HOW TO REPLACE THE
LAND USED BY THE PROJECT". This is deceiving as the square on the map of
Harpswell that shows my land, as well as my neighbors. The beautiful
picture of the waterfront shows a dock with a dingy on it, that dock
belongs to the Vicarage By The Sea and my family. This is just a one
example of how their flyer's don't tell the truth. Their flier's and
their focus meeting that pay individuals $75.00 apiece for their time are
just designed to sell.
I explained the problem with the pictures in
Fairwinds flier to Peter Micchice, and left him a phone message asking him
to correct this so that it showed the accurate piece of land. He asked if
their was any thing else I didn't like about the project that he could
help me with. I said no. He said, "Then I just guess your going to be
unhappy with us.".
It will hurt a lot of fishermen's livelihoods. The
security zones of the tankers will keep them from their regular fishing
the tankers will destroy their gear, and yeah the town says there will be
a fund to pay for it. While I am not a fishermen, and I can not imagine
having to go to work every 4 days to find my gear gone, and by the time I
get my new gear set up the tankers will be back to take it out again.
Think of all of the lives this project will change
forever, think of what it will do to our town, and, God forbid, a failure
in the pipe line, or at their plant ,or the possibility of a tanker
explosion. Where are we going to go if by chance something does happen?
All of us who live south of the plant - where are we going to go? Not to
mention the fact that there are schools are south of the plant.
Yes, Peter Micchice say's the possibility of a
terrorist attack in Harpswell is slim. He can only say slim because it is
not impossible. There is a chance that it could happen. Our lives, our
family's lives, and the fishermen's jobs and livelihoods - the
preservation of our town as we know it, are worth more then Fairwinds
could ever pay. There is no tax decrease in the world worth the
possibility of the disaster that could happen. We shouldn't have to be
the "sacrificial lambs" just so Fairwinds and our town can make a buck!
These facts, that I left here are only a few. They
are not scare tactics, they are simply meant to say there is more out
there that we are not being told. Look them up for your self.
Fairwinds says LNG is safe. Well, the history of
LNG says it is not. As for the selectmen making the statement "scare
tactics" - well my comment to that is that we should all be scared of the
fact that nobody is telling us the whole truth, and the only facts that
we are getting are those being given by Fairwinds.
The selectmen at a recent meeting stated that we
should not just assume that they are going to vote for this project. Well
if you don't want people to assume you are 100 percent for the Fairwinds
project then stop selling it to us. Get us all of the information we need
and demand enough time for all of the studies to be done that need to be
done, and have them done by somebody Fairwinds is not paying.
It is just irresponsible for our towns selectmen to
ask us to vote on such an enormous issue the will change our town and our
lives, and will destroy so many livelihoods with out all of the facts.
Well, I will end my letter here by saying, to the
people of Harpswell, please do your own research. Don't just believe what
Fairwinds is telling you. Don't just believe what I have written here.
Look at the sites that I have left in this letter and see for your self.
Please get all of the information for yourselves that you can possible
get before you are asked to vote on January 20th, because it does not
look like our selectmen or Fairwinds is going to give it to us, or give
us enough time to have the studies done.
Listen to your neighbors and how it will affect
their lives. Listen to the fishermen who's livelihoods will be destroyed
and support them - I have no doubt that they would support you. Research
the truth of the dangers of LNG - it is not as safe as they claim.
If by chance you are unable to access these news
articles which I have listed here e-mail your mailing address to
maineiacs@hotmail.com and I will be happy to mail them to you.
Cheryl Golek Harpswell, Maine Resident |