To the Editor:
I was present during the Nexus pipeline presentation to regional officials at Owens Community College
last Wednesday, and was appalled by how the company considered a Toledo lawyer’s questions to be too hot
to answer before our County Commissioners (see "Pipeline Firm Defends Process").
I wondered what they were trying to protect.
Despite the for-public-good picture pipeline companies are portraying, they will turn Wood County into a
sacrifice zone if we allow it. Rover (dual side-by-side pipes) and Nexus are already illegally using
eminent domain bullying tactics to force relatively new experimental technology, an unprecedented 3 –
42" high-pressure lines (1,400-1,500 psi), through our county. Just one 42" pipeline accident
would incinerate a minimum area 3,000′ wide. But there are no laws requiring that homes be spaced a safe
distance away. What seems like a glaring oversight has actually been intentionally built into the system
to allow companies to privatize the profits and socialize the losses to communities and landowners. It
is theft of private property.
Not only is Wood County pivotal to these multi-line "fast-track" experiments, but there is a
third pipeline, and possibly even more, just over the horizon: the up-coming 42" TransCanada ANR.
The current proposals are only the tip of the iceberg; Wood County is situated at the geographic heart
of it all for the export of domestic natural gas.
When we are told there is nothing anyone can do to stop these projects, let’s not be fooled; Wood County
citizens can and must stand up for our right to protect our health, safety, and property because no one
else can do it for us. We must assert that right by passing a new local law to prevent pipelines from
destroying Wood County now and for future generations. This change must come from within – from the
people who are being expected to pay the price.
We must get informed. Then let us be the ones to decide whether or not we want to sacrifice our lives and
property to line someone else’s pocket.
Lisa Kochheiser
Bowling Green
