Land Values Limited Economic Development
- The value of the home would be significantly reduced – to zero value in some instances
- The ability to sell your home or property would be diminished significantly.
- The ability to develop land under which a 42” or 36″ high pressure natural gas pipeline resides will be greatly limited or eliminated altogether.
No Economic value (some points taken from Atlantic Coast pipeline opposition)
- Chmura Economics & Analytics was hired by Dominion to do an economic impact study (no conflict of interest there) for their proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline in Virginia. Chmura concluded that the construction of the pipeline would support 1,462 jobs per year. So, the Jobs created will be only temporary of citizens of Virginia, as most of the pipeline workers will be skilled pipeline welders or heavy pipeline equipment operators. They will most likely be from out of state following the construction of pipelines across the country.
- Chmura went on to say that the pipeline will likely support 118 ongoing jobs in the region beginning in 2019. (Chmura was the same firm that said Virginia would have a surplus of several billion dollars, but when all was said and done, the Commonwealth closed out the last FY with over a $4 billion shortfall.)
- Citizens cannot get natural gas directly from the pipeline. It must come after transport to TRANSCO through a local natural gas company, e.g., Roanoke Gas, or Virginia Natural Gas. Recently it was reported that a representative from EQT told a member of the Montgomery BOS that access could be provide for about $500K per connection during construction or over a million after construction. What they and other pipeline companies are usually referring to is a connection from another interstate or intrastate natural gas transporter, e.g., East Tennessee Pipeline owned by Spectra from Dallas, TX. At those connections, a smaller pipe (8-10”) and the pressure reduced appropriate for the size of the pipe. Certainly they were not talking about Mr. and Mrs. Jones having a natural gas hook up for their home.
- Most of the focus on costs has been only about the cost of the fracked gas produced, but, that is only one of the costs – it is certainly far from the true total cost. The other costs, and those more important to focus on, are the economic, environmental, property, individual, and community costs associated with the proposed NEXUS pipeline.
