Editor:
People in the proposed path of the Atex pipeline, and all citizens of Ohio, we need your help to stop the pipeline. Our constitutional rights are being stripped by a billionaire company by the name of Enterprise, out of Texas, for the sole purpose of profit. We encourage you to join us in fighting to prevent the pipeline project. Please support us by signing our petition. Please contact your local officials. Our website is www.lcgao.weebly.com or email us at nopipeline1@gmail.com. I implore everybody in our state to work together. Anytime a pipeline goes through the state, it is an opportunity lost to create permanent jobs. So what is ethane? Ethane is a natural gas liquid that is being recovered in huge quantities in the wet gas areas of the Marcellus Shale and Utica Shale. Ethane needs to be “cracked” on an atomic level (breaking two of its six hydrogen atoms, to be specific) to become ethylene. Ethylene is then used for a variety of products. Most notably, ethylene is the most common feedstock for many different types of plastic. It’s a precursor to ethylene glycol (anti-freeze), it’s used as a plant hormone to force fruit to ripen, and can be inhaled as an anesthesia. It’s an extremely diverse compound. So why are we shipping it to Texas via the Enterprise Pipeline? The last time I heard, Ohio is in need of jobs. Ethane is being extracted from the wet gas Marcellus and Utica Shale wells in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio. All three of these states were trying to secure the Shell cracker plant, which Shell announced Pennsylvania will get. Why are we shipping our gold from our wells to Texas? Why don’t we keep it in Ohio and build a world-wide plastic industry? Here is a direct quote from Ohio Gov. Kasich “I don’t want any foreigners working on wellheads,” Kasich said in a speech at the Columbus Metropolitan Club. “Foreigners are people who come from Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia and Kentucky, and those distant foreigners from Texas.” Talk about foreigners — enterprise is based out of Houston, their land service Tablerock is from Golden, Colo., and SAM Inc. Their survey crew is from, you guessed it, Texas. We need to stop billionaire companies from treading on our rights as landowner and voters, for the soul purpose of profit. If we send this ethane to Texas to be refined, odds are it will go to a real foreign county just a little south called Mexico. Our government representatives need to recognize when they are being manipulated by large companies — and not capitulate so easily every time a request is made of our people and our land. Sometimes, you need to walk away from the bargaining table to win in the long run. This is one of those times. We already have enough static pipelines in Licking County and in Ohio. Let’s build the processing plants where the natural resources are located — right here in Ohio — and ensure good paying, long-term jobs for a generation or more. Stop the pipeline. This pipeline has nothing to do with a public utility, it is all about corporate profit. To set the record straight, I have a Clinton well on my property, and I am not anti-oil — I do drive a car. This is about property rights, community safety and the abuse of our constitutional rights by Big Business being too close to our government. Dave Bonifant Nashport, Ohio
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