This is in response to the April 4 letter by Mr. Grinnell to our Addison County Regional Planning Commission.
Need to hear the truth?
New York wants to be heard. Well, maybe they should listen to some of the bunk we’ve been fed by Vermont Gas.
The Ticonderoga town supervisor should know that Vermont Gas said it isn’t going any further than the mill.
Do Essex County and Ticonderoga know something we don’t?
To reach the mill, the company will laterally drill under Lake Champlain. This type of drilling could have what they refer to as a blowout or blowback. Either one would disturb the sludge bed (that International Paper created with its polluting practices). Not worth the risk to our major source of drinking water.
Grinnell noted over $1 million in wages and benefits paid to Vermonters working in the mill. According to the statistics, 16 Vermonters work in the mill. That means on average the mill pays $62,500 to its employees. Really? Sign me up.
Donna Wadsworth, an IP executive, clearly stated the mill will no longer burn No. 6 fuel oil, no matter what happens with phase two. And she said this pipeline is not the only choice for the mill. The mill is financially solid and will seek gas elsewhere if not from this flawed project.
At a Cornwall selectboard meeting on June 19, 2013, Geoff Demong asked about the $30 million in savings to IP. Don Gilbert of Vermont Gas said he understood there was some desire to try to extract more out of International Paper but International Paper has other alternatives, and that are other ways for natural gas to arrive at that plant. At which point the whole room of Cornwall and Shoreham residents erupted in applause.
That is a direct contradiction to Mr. Grinnell’s statement that extending the pipeline from Vermont is the only way the IP mill could access natural gas.
Mary Martin
Cornwall