Pipelines are NOT ALWAYS in the public interest!
- by: Mark Laity-Snyder
- recipient: Virginia General Assembly Delegates
The bills, HB 1475 and SB 1163 titled Natural gas utilities; Recovery and deferral of system expansion infrastructure costs, will be brought up for committee vote soon.
These outrageous bills will declare all natural gas infrastructure, including pipelines, to be "in the public interest," without any process whatsoever to determine whether the public benefits at all. House Bill 1475 and Senate Bill 1163 do at least two BAD things: give pipeline companies a new revenue stream out of consumers's pockets that can't be questioned by the SCC or consumers and gives the companies prima facia right to build pipelines anywhere they want because the company gets to decide what is "in the public interest." This is bad law.
HB 1475 and SB1163 state in part:
"The authorization and encouragement of the expansion of natural gas infrastructure and the promotion of the use of natural gas are declared to be in the public interest. Allowing Virginia's natural gas utilities to approach expansion of intrastate infrastructure into unserved and underserved areas on a more proactive basis by expanding, improving, and increasing the reliability of Virginia's energy infrastructure is also declared to be in the public interest."
The harm to property owners, residents of affected counties, and the environment caused by the Mountain Valley Pipeline, Atlantic Coast Pipeline and future pipelines far outweigh any benefits. We need more accountability and transparency in the regulatory process, not the complete abandonment of any process at all!
And HB1475 and SB 1163 would make rate-payers pay for the expansion of natural gas infrastructure, and would prohibit the State Corporation Commission from asking too many questions.
"The SCC is barred from examining other revenue requirement or ratemaking issues in its consideration of the natural gas utility's application."
To see the full text of HB 1475 go to https://www.richmondsunlight.com/bill/2015/hb1475/
For SB1163 go to https://www.richmondsunlight.com/bill/2015/sb1163
Working together, we can prevent this shameless attempt by private corporations to rig our laws in their favor. We must stop these bills. Please call or email these representatives as soon as possible to express your opposition to HB 1475 and SB1163!
We the undersigned urge the representatives to the committee for VA HB1475 and SB1163 to NOT bring these bills to the floor.
These outrageous bill will declare all natural gas infrastructure, including pipelines, to be "in the public interest," without any process whatsoever to determine whether the public benefits at all. HB1475 and SB1163 does at least two BAD things: gives pipeline companies a new revenue stream out of consumers's pockets that can't be questioned by the SCC or consumers and gives the companies prima facia right to build pipelines anywhere they want because the company gets to decide what is "in the public interest." This is bad law.
We need MORE scruitiny for these infrastructure processes, not less.
The harm to property owners, residents of affected counties, and the environment caused by the Mountain Valley Pipeline and Atlantic Coast Pipeline in particular far outweigh any benefits.
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