The FERC Rubber Stamp Song

Published on Jul 6, 2014

We all know FERC's a Rubber Stamp Machine!
(Federal Energy Regulatory Commission)
Recorded the 1 May 2014 (day of Minisink trial at the DC Circuit Court of Appeals).

LYRICS by Dave Publow:

We're here at FERC to have our say
So listen closely, don't walk away
This is your country It's yours to save
You're letting fossil fuels dig our grave

Across the land from sea to sea
The gas-men drill the earth so carelessly
They poison water, they cut down trees
To put in pipelines that we don't need

And we all know that FERC's a rubber stamp machine,
it's not for you and me, it's paid by permit fees
We all know that FERC's a rubber stamp machine,
It won't protect you, it won't protect me

You guys at FERC, so you say
Will regulate the pipes, and keep us safe
Tell me then how industry
Puts dangerous pipelines in NYC

Our upstate friends are feeling down
The Constitution Pipeline, will wreck their towns
With leaky pipes and clear cut trees
Fracked wells and poisoned springs

We all know that FERC's a rubber stamp machine,
a rubber stamp machine, a rubber stamp machine
We all know your hearings are a total joke,
FERC is just a fraud, it's all a bunch of smoke

Voices:
Full speed ahead, Mr. FERC Inspector! Full speed ahead!
Full speed it is Mr. Gasman!
Cut the trees down! Carve up the landscape!
Spread that toxic waste on the roads!
Aye aye, Sir! Aye aye!


And we fight cause we believe
No one should be forced to ever breathe
Skies of ozone (Skies of ozone) and benzene (and toluene)
In our ferky (our ferky jerky) democracy (bureaucracy, ha-ha!)

We all know that gas is anything but green
It poisons all our wells, or blows to smithereens
And we all know that FERC's a rubber stamp machine,
It won't protect you, it won't protect me

We all know that FERC's a rubber stamp machine,
a rubber stamp machine, a rubber stamp machine
We all know that FERC's a rubber stamp machine,
It won't protect you, it won't protect me.

FERC

Minisink Matters

Minisink, NY:  Our Story

Minisink Compressor Station Vented July 7, 2014
 

MARC 1 Gas Pipeline To Be Installed Near Elementary School

If your child attends the Wyalusing Valley Elementary School in Wyalusing, PA,  I suppose you will be glad to know that measures will be taken during the installation of the MARC 1 pipeline to insure your child's safety.  Noise pollution will be kept to an acceptable minimum, and the school district's water well will be protected from contamination.  Great!  No problem.  However, if you think perhaps there might still be a problem with putting in a 30-inch wide major pipeline a mere 897 feet from the school building,  you might not be so impressed with all the precautions the Central New York Oil and Gas Company is taking.  The Susquehanna River is near the school.  This pipeline operation will bore beneath the river only 40 feet underneath the river bottom.  Noise-producing equipment used to drill under the river will be located 875 feet from the school.  Central NY Oil and Gas has hired a noise consultant.  Sound barriers will be put up.  Nice touch there. And the best part- a full-time environmental inspector will be on site.  So all bases have been covered I guess.  The drilling company has assured Wyalusing residents that the pipeline would not pose any danger to students.  So don't we all feel better now?

Read the article from the Towanda Daily Review here. LINK
Read what Standing Stone resident Diane Ward said about the approval process for this pipeline.  Very interesting.  Also Google "pipeline accidents."  You might be surprised. Here's one site to start with: LINK.

And if you would like a broader perspective, here is a presentation from 2005 entitled "Restoring Public Trust in Pipeline Safety."

Pipelines are very dangerous.  They should not be installed near ANYTHING, much less an elementary school.  Are we crazy to allow this to happen?  I think we are.

Energy Independence? American LNG Headed For Overseas

The US has too much natural gas.  Liquified natural gas will be sold overseas to the highest bidder.  Wasn't all this shale gas extraction supposed to produce energy for us?  Now we have so much, we have to sell it abroad?  Here is an article from The Wall Street Journal:

Cheniere Wins Approval to Export U.S. Liquefied Natural Gas

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704644404575482290198119482.html

* SEPTEMBER 9, 2010, 7:59 P.M. ET

By ISABEL ORDONEZ

HOUSTON—The U.S. Department of Energy said Thursday it has granted approval to Cheniere Energy Partners LP's bid to export liquefied natural gas produced in North America from a terminal in Louisiana.
The approval, granted Sept. 7, puts the terminal in Cameron Parish one step closer to becoming the first facility to export natural gas produced in the Lower 48 states, drawing supply from the burgeoning
unconventional gas fields in Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas and Oklahoma.

The proposal underscores how the natural-gas supply picture in the U.S. has turned from scarcity to overabundance, thanks to the exploitation of rock formations called shales. It also marks a radical shift in the plans of companies such as Cheniere, which once planned to profit from building multibillion-dollar liquefaction terminals in different U.S. coastal locations. But the natural-gas shale boom brought those plans to a halt. North America's new gas wealth has prompted other export projects, such as Apache Corp.'s proposed facility in British Columbia, which aims to supply Asia with large quantities of Canadian natural gas. Natural gas, usually shipped through pipelines, has traditionally been a regional market, but when it is converted into liquid, it can be shipped overseas. Through its Sabine Pass Liquefaction subsidiary, Cheniere asked the Department of Energy in early August for permission to export up to 16 million metric tons annually for 30 years. It also filed an application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to build, in
phases, a liquefaction facility that would eventually handle an average of 2.6 billion cubic feet a day from four liquefied natural gas, or LNG, trains.

The Department of Energy's approval allows Cheniere's unit to export LNG to any nation that has the capacity to import the fuel and with which the U.S. has entered, or may in the future enter, into a Free
Trade Agreement, including Canada, Mexico, Chile and Singapore,
according to the order from the Department of Energy.

Gas-bearing rock formations known as shales have changed the view that domestic U.S. natural-gas output would decline and that new supplies would have to come into the U.S. from other countries. In fact, these
new supplies have depressed gas prices, discouraging gas imports that were once thought critical to feed growing demand for the fuel. Prolific onshore gas fields in Texas and Oklahoma, and the well-
documented unconventional gas fields in the Barnett, Haynesville, Eagle Ford, Fayetteville, Woodford and Bossier basins in Texas and Louisiana, would represent the most likely sources of physical supply for the Sabine Pass, Cheniere's unit said in its application.

The Sabine Pass LNG terminal is already an import facility. With a total send-out capacity of four billion cubic feet a day and 16.8 billion cubic feet of storage capacity, it is the largest receiving terminal, by regasification capacity, in the world, according to Cheniere's website. The FERC recently allowed Sabine Pass to use the terminal for the additional purpose of exporting foreign-sourced LNG. Cheniere will soon file a separate application for authorization to export LNG to countries with which a Free Trade Agreement applicable to natural gas and LNG isn't in effect, according to the application it filed in August. The second application will be subject to more rigorous public-interest review and analysis by the Department of
Energy, the company has said in the application.
—Jason Womack contributed to this article.

DEMAND ACCOUNTABILITY!

In Memory of Karen Korell

SPLASHDOWN

1944-2010

Tennessee Gas Pipeline: The 300 Line Project

Here is the Project Summary.

When will Federal Energy Regulatory Commission complete its review?

Plans call for a pre-filing application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) to be filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in the fall of 2008. The initial review process could range from 12 to 18 months to complete. Following that, Tennessee expects to file a full application to construct the project with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in July 2009. If approved, the project would be built in two phases.

Following receipt of all applicable approvals, construction may begin as early as July 2010. The project is planned to be in service by November 2011. Public outreach, which began in the summer of 2008, will continue throughout construction of the project.