Gov. Shumlin, you have been a vocal proponent of the Gaz Métro Vermont Gas Phase II proposal, which will carry fracked gas from Alberta, Canada, through Addison County to the Ticonderoga, N.Y., International Paper mill. Ninety nine and six-tenths percent of this gas would not serve a single Vermont household. I would like to remind you of some of your public statements regarding this issue.
May 16, 2012: You signed House Bill 464 establishing a fracking ban in Vermont and stated, “Very soon, there is going to be a shortage of clean water on this planet. Drinking water will be more valuable than oil or natural gas. Human beings have survived for thousands of years without oil or natural gas. We have never known humanity or life on this planet to survive without clean water.” You characterized fracking as a “desperate pursuit to find energy” and the adoption of fracking as “irrational exuberance.”
Feb. 14, 2013: You commented on the introduction of the Climate Protection Act in the U.S. Senate. “We cannot act quickly enough to move our nation and our planet off fossil fuels, reduce carbon emissions and promote safe, renewable sources of energy to fuel our economic growth.”
May 15, 2014: In an interview with the Valley News,  you pronounced, “We cannot afford to burn every drop of fossil fuel that we can extract from the ground with technology — then we are going to destroy the planet.”
Governor, many of us live by the precept that a man is only as good as his word. I would again encourage you to walk your talk and withdraw your administration’s support for Phase II of the proposed pipeline.
Stanley Grzyb
Cornwall
 
Editor’s note: The writer submitted this letter to Gov. Shumlin.