Citizens from the tri-state region will travel to Annapolis on February 15 to urge Maryland Governor Larry Hogan to put a halt to the proposed TransCanada Potomac Pipeline.
“The Governor rejecting the permit would stop, or severely delay, the use of the pipeline, since a supply line from Pennsylvania must go through Maryland and under the Potomac to supply the fracked gas to West Virginia,” said Hedgesville resident Tracy Cannon. Cannon is an organizer with Eastern Panhandle Protectors.
“Buses will leave from the Walmart in Martinsburg at 3 pm and from Hagerstown at 3:45 pm. The ride is free to all. The address for the rally in Annapolis is 100 State Circle.”
“Governor Hogan is supposed to make this crucial decision on or before March 15,” Cannon said.
“Mountaineer Gas and TransCanada companies have been acquiring land in West Virginia and Maryland to build the proposed Eastern Panhandle Expansion Project pipeline since the spring of 2016.”
“In the past week, I have seen and heard that tree cutting crews are now felling trees along the route of this proposed pipeline on both sides of Back Creek, which runs through Hedgesville, West Virginia.”
Trees Cut Down Along Pipeline Route Near Back Creek
“Back Creek is one of the most pristine waterways on the East Coast. This creek has been monitored and kept healthy by the hard work of the Blue Heron Environmental Network since 1991.”
“The felling of trees on both of its banks first, before any other locations along the route, leads me to believe the gas company may start their construction of the pipeline by doing horizontal directional drilling under Back Creek as the first step.”
“Back Creek flows into the Potomac, which means any accidents or blow-outs during the potentially risky drilling process would pollute both the creek and the Potomac River.
“Our situation with regard to the this project is now urgent.”
“On Thursday, February 15th, we will go to Annapolis, Maryland and surround the Governor’s Mansion and persuade him to reject the permit for the proposed pipeline to go under the Potomac.”
In an op-ed last month in the Baltimore Sun titled Maryland Should Say No to Fracked Gas Pipeline, Ann Bristow, who served on the Maryland Marcellus Shale Advisory Committee, called on Hogan to reject the pipeline.
“This administration, the same one that supported a ban on fracking in Maryland, recently issued a fact sheet about this fracked gas pipeline entitled – What You Need to Know,” Bristow wrote. “But it omitted what they apparently don’t want us to know: the possible harms to public health of constructing this pipeline.”