Dedham Citizens Awake from Your Winter Slumber

Dear Dedham Residents:

This past week I received notification the of the installation of a gas pipeline within 50 feet of my home, 100 feet from my living room. Algonquin Gas Transmission, also known as Spectra Energy, has filed with Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity which has been assigned Docket No: CP-96-000. If you are like most of us, you have no idea what that means. However, the installation of a natural gas pipeline in a residential area should be concerning to all. How could anyone think that a natural gas pipeline with six feet deep trenches is okay in a residential neighborhood? 

Our public officials, town administrators, and we the residents of Dedham have been asleep. I had no idea that a pipeline would be coming right in front of my house to begin construction in 2015 through 2016. However, every Dedham resident should be absolutely furious that 2.75 miles of the pipeline will be traversing Dedham, and there has been no outcry. Every Dedham resident will be adversely affected by this construction project, whether it travels in front of your house or behind. 

The company has already held three public hearings to gather input on the project. What guarantees can homeowners, families, and citizens of a town have that a major corporation will have the best our best interest at hand? What role will our local, state, and federal officials play in insuring that a major corporation will remember the children and elderly in our neighborhoods? Past history has shown that the corporations will protect their own self-interests, their stockholders, and their bottom line if the citizens are silent. At stake is the health of our children and elderly residents. At stake is our quality of life. At stake is our ability to have our voices heard despite large corporations and federal bureaucracies that make it impossible for lay citizens to be heard.

I urge ever Dedham resident to demand information. Email Dedham Selectman and demand full disclosure with many more public hearings and much more town involvement. Call or email State Senator Rush and Representative McMurtry demanding their involvement to advocate at the state level for a process that provides for fairness and insures the safety and well being of our families. Call or email Congressman Lynch, Senator Warren,  and Senator Markey. Demand they advocate that all federal agencies involved  provide for a transparent process that allows for citizens concerns to be heard, a process that is understood to lay people and doesn't require an engineering or law degree.

Please call and email immediately. Dedham, awake from your winter slumber and make some noise.

Note: "The pipeline would go from the existing meter station on Downey Terrace in Westwood for half a mile through Dedham for 2.75 miles and 1.55 miles in West Roxbury," per Dedham Wicked Local (http://www.wickedlocal.com/x1837093932/Pipeline-company-eyes-expansion-in-West-Roxbury-Dedham-and-We...)