Editor:
The pipelines are coming! One of the first in Northwest Ohio is the Nexus pipeline.
A 42 inch high pressure natural gas behemoth snaking through the sensitive Oak Openings region. Why would responsible people run a potential time bomb through the wooded park lands of Northwest Ohio?
Ohio Farm Bureau Director of Energy Policy Dale Arnold says the region will see many more pipelines in the coming decade. Will the region be criss crossed willy nilly disrupting the lives of area residents for decades?
The state or federal government needs to take action, we need established right-of-ways to route potentially dangerous gas pipelines across the state. No more Eminent Domain thievery by private companies leaving many homeowners with worthless tainted properties.
Paul Wohlfarth
Ottawa Lake, Mich.
(The writer’s son has a 100-year-old, 20-acre woodlot in the path of the Nexus pipeline.)
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Look out below: Danger lurks underground from aging gas pipes
http://www.usatoday.com/longform/news/nation/2014/09/23/gas-pipes-cast-iron-deaths-explosions-investigation/15783697/
INVESTIGATOR | Local aging gas lines pose danger http://www.wkyc.com/story/news/investigations/2014/09/24/gas-explosions-pipelines-deaths-injuries-regulators/16152883/
Paul has hit it on the head. The law is designed to pit one American interest against another allowing the wealthy to bully and steal a poor private property owner’s interest at a fraction of the worth, shifting all of the risk of dangerous pipelines to people with no financial interest in the huge profits made by pipeline companies (which are few in number and just a few individuals making the big bonuses). Despite the propaganda, the federal government statistics show that pipelines continue to leak and fail, sometimes with catastrophic consequences to the property owners. As usual in America, there is no government leadership out front; in fact Governor Kasich appears to be pitted against the interests of the property owners based upon his supporters and actions. With ten pipelines coming, would it not be reasonable to plan for these lines so that infrastructure could be shared, costs shared and reduced for all, and impact on communities reduced to a minimum? Are we that ignorant as a society that we cannot address these issues?