Pipeline

The following letter was addressed to Del. Rick Impallaria. A copy was provided for publication. I am writing to you today to bring to your attention an issue you might already be aware of and one that I need your help monitoring. Columbia Gas has proposed the installation of a 21.4-mile natural gas pipeline from Owings Mills to Rutledge Compressor Station in Fallston. For most of the 21.4 miles, the pipeline will follow [an] existing pipeline, however, most of the pipeline being installed in the Fallston area will follow a new direction.

When men's lacrosse coach Joe Breschi left Ohio State after the 2008 season to fill the same post at North Carolina, he took with him his network of connections with the Baltimore metropolitan area. Since his departure, however, the Buckeyes have maintained a pipeline to Charm City, using it to help build a roster that's only three wins from a national championship. Ohio State has six Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association players hailing from Baltimore, which is the second-most among the eight teams left in the NCAA tournament.

Kudos to President Obama for his courageous decision to deny a permit for the Keystone XL pipeline. As a former resident of Colorado, I can vouch for the fact that the Ogallala Aquifer that would have been threatened by the pipeline is a crucial source of drinking and agricultural water for much of the Midwest. Keystone I, built several years ago, has had a long and sad history of accidents and spills. With this decision, millions of future Americans will be spared a legacy of pollution.

While many have long seen America as the global bad boy, everybody likes Canada. If Uncle Sam tucks his pack of Marlboros under his T-shirt sleeve and plays by his own rules, the Canadian moose -- or whatever their Uncle Sam equivalent is -- always wears his blue blazer and school tie and does his chores without being asked. Canada is a global citizen, a good neighbor, a northern Puerto Rico with an EU sensibility that earns its gold stars from the United Nations every day. This fact should have relevance below the 49th parallel.

Some of those environmental activists campaigning against the Keystone XL pipeline are on the young side.  Kids from 20 Maryland high schools, who dub themselves the Tar Sands Students, plan to meet today with a representative of the White House Council on Environmental Quality to press their concerns about construction of the line to carry oil extracted from tar sands deposits in western Canada to refineries in the Gulf of Mexico....

Editor: Time is running out for you to make your feelings known to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on the proposed 21.4 mile, 26 inch, 1000 PSI pipeline that will wind its way through Baltimore and Harford Counties. Harford County politicians need to take their heads out of the sand and see the potential problems this pipeline will create to our wetlands, septic systems, environment and safety. The gas company has one 20-nch pipeline already in place. Why do we need another?

Prince George's County Public Schools has been awarded a one-year $250,000 grant from the Freddie Mac Foundation. This capacity-building grant will be used to enhance funding for the "principal pipeline" initiative that began this school year through a $12.5 million five-year grant from the Wallace Foundation. The Freddie Mac Foundation grant will enhance sustainability of the initiative and support the school system in its efforts to increase the effectiveness of instructional leaders.

Of course, the representative of the American Petroleum Institute would promote a tar sands oil pipeline from Canada to the U.S. ("Keystone XL pipeline is a step toward the future," Aug. 25). Unfortunately, this is not, as the headline says, "a step toward the future," but is a step backward. Why? Because fossil fuels are no longer viable long-term sources of energy. Neither Cindy Schild nor the op-ed writers opposed to the pipeline mention the broader issue, which is that we are past the peak of cheap oil. Oil executives and politicians know this but don't talk about it. (See the film, "The End of Suburbia.

HAVRE DE GRACE -- Editors of community papers have nose trouble. They hate the idea that something might be going on in their town that they don't know about. I'm not an editor anymore, but the old nosy impulses are still there.So when men with heavy equipment started digging up Congress Avenue near my office and burying what looked like an eight-inch pipe there, I was immediately curious. And when I saw that the pipe was being extended from the foot of Congress, which ends at the waterfront, out to the middle of the Susquehanna River, I was more curious still.

Your recent article about Sen. Robert A. Zirkin's dispute with Columbia Gas unfairly portrayed the senator's efforts to convince the company to reroute its proposed underground high-pressure transmission pipeline ("Senator, gas company clash over pipeline," March 3). The article implies that Senator Zirkin is leading this effort solely for personal gain. In fact, he and his family are not directly affected by the proposed new route. But he has given voice to the concerns of those of us who will be. Instead of concentrating on the issues at hand, your article diverges into matters that are irrelevant to the fundamental question: Why does Columbia Gas need another pipeline and why, except for a recent change that excludes Gun Powder State Park, is expansion of the current right-of-way the only viable alternative being considered?

A House committee has killed a bill that would have imposed state safety regulations on interstate natural gas pipelines that run through Maryland after concerns were raised whether they would conflict with federal law. The Economic Matters Committee reported Thursday that it had voted down the Pipeline Safety and Community Protection Act, which had been withdrawn by its House sponsor, Del. Dan Morhaim, a Baltimore County Democrat. The legislation had received more attention in the Senate, where Sen. Robert A. Zirkin made it the centerpiece of a series of a package of bills he introduced on the subject of pipeline safety.

Sen. Robert A. Zirkin called on a Senate committee Tuesday to approve legislation expanding the state Public Service Commission's role in overseeing the state's interstate natural gas pipelines -- including one running alongside his Owing Mills home. The PSC, however, expressed ambivalence about taking on the broad new role Zirkin envisions -- saying some of his proposals would run afoul of federal law. Zirkin received a hearing on a package of seven bills he has introduced to increase state regulation of the natural gas pipeline industry.

State Sen. Robert A. Zirkin has shown his true colors by taking on Columbia Gas' proposed new natural gas transmission pipeline ("Senator, gas company clash over pipeline," March 3). Isn't it funny that he only fights the gas line when it comes across his property - and then tells the gas company to move it onto someone else's property? He even tried to go after one of the lobbyists' wives with a special bill crafted to only affect her. I thought he was just pompous, but now I see by his disregard for the people who elected him that he is arrogant as well.

Your recent article about Sen. Robert A. Zirkin's dispute with Columbia Gas unfairly portrayed the senator's efforts to convince the company to reroute its proposed underground high-pressure transmission pipeline ("Senator, gas company clash over pipeline," March 3). The article implies that Senator Zirkin is leading this effort solely for personal gain. In fact, he and his family are not directly affected by the proposed new route. But he has given voice to the concerns of those of us who will be. Instead of concentrating on the issues at hand, your article diverges into matters that are irrelevant to the fundamental question: Why does Columbia Gas need another pipeline and why, except for a recent change that excludes Gun Powder State Park, is expansion of the current right-of-way the only viable alternative being considered?

A Baltimore County senator is engaged in a bitter public clash with a giant energy company over its plans to build an underground natural gas pipeline that would run through land alongside his Owings Mills home and through the yards of many of his neighbors. Sen. Robert A. Zirkin has introduced more than a dozen bills in Annapolis that take aim at the gas pipeline industry and its federally granted powers to seek condemnation of private property. Zirkin says he is doing everything he can to protect the environment and the safety of his constituents.

When Maryland utilities replace their gas pipelines, customers have had to fork out extra money afterward — not during. But that's poised to change. Both chambers of Maryland's General Assembly, citing safety concerns, approved measures this month that would make it easier for utilities to add infrastructure surcharges of up to $2 a month to natural-gas customers' bills. It's the latest push in a tug of war over the best and fairest way to replace the nation's aging utility infrastructure, the price tag for which has been estimated in the trillions of dollars.

Charles Campbell's commentary is a concise and well presented argument for a reconsideration of President Obama's refusal to approve the Keystone XL pipeline and for a revamping of our energy policies ("D.C.'s Keystone Kops," Jan. 30). The article should be read by all of out political leaders, and I'm speaking from the point of view of an Obama supporter and liberal-leaning Independent. Dianne Salmon

I question the need for the legislature to impose a surcharge of $2 per month on all BGE customers to pay for new gas pipelines ("Utility surcharge bill advances in Senate," Feb. 6). The maintenance of natural gas pipelines is the responsibility of the owner of the pipelines. If maintenance is needed, BGE and those who use its natural gas should pay for it, not the customers who only buy electricity from the company. As BGE customers who do not have natural gas supplied to our neighborhood, it seems grossly unfair to charge those of us who are not direct users of the gas flowing through the company's pipelines.

The recent editorial on the Keystone XL pipeline shows a preponderance of politically correct rhetoric and very little research on the subject ("Say no to Keystone" Jan 29). There are reasons to question the tar sands projects but they are not included. A quick Google search will show that the U.S. is laced with pipelines and that Canadian tar sands crude has been moving into the U.S. by pipeline since the 1960s with no major incidents. Far from entering the existing pipelines as a dirty, viscous liquid - which, incidentally wouldn't flow in pipelines - the bitumen extracted is upgraded on site in high-temperature, high-pressure hydrotreating processes to remove nitrogen and sulfur to produce a high-quality light synthetic crude.