Angelo Lynn’s editorial on Monday, April 7, pointed out that Vermont Gas’ “side of the story” is that without the International Paper lateral extension, extending the pipeline to Rutland might take 10 years or more. In fact, their current side of the story is that without IP’s funding they won’t be able to reach Rutland until 2035.
However, this is only their latest spin on the issue. On July 12, 2012, this newspaper published an article trumpeting a new pipeline project extending to Middlebury, quoting VGS spokesperson Steve Wark. At that time VGS had not had contact with IP (or at least did not mention it to the reporter). The article states the following: “The plan calls for an extension of the Vermont Gas pipeline from Colchester into New Haven, then branching out into Middlebury and Vergennes. It is the first phase in the company’s ultimate goal of serving customers in Rutland County within around seven years.”
Odd that two years ago VGS could reach Rutland by 2019 without IP’s money, but now they can’t get there until 2035 without it. I lack accounting experience, but if their hired numbers people are making errors on a 16-year scale it should give everyone assessing the viability of this project some pause.
Raph Worrick, Cornwall