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By Mike Clifford, Public News Service - MA, Contact
July 14, 2016BOSTON – Opponents of building new fracking gas pipelines in Massachusetts plan to march more than 40 miles today to call attention to their cause.
The march traces the route of the proposed Spectra Energy pipeline, according to Emily Kirkland, director of organizing for the group 350 Mass for a Better Future.
She says the goal is to get the word out on what her group contends are environmental and health risks associated with the pipeline.
"These are new gas pipelines that are being built to carry gas that's been obtained through fracking in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio,” she states. “As many of us know by now, fracking contaminates water. It pollutes the air."
Spectra Energy says the company transports natural gas thousands of miles through a complex pipeline network, quickly and safely.
The marchers plan to end up at the State House to protest Gov. Charlie Baker’s plans to charge local ratepayers for some of the cost of the Spectra Energy pipeline.
Kirkland says protesters will march 43 miles, using the proposed pipeline route from Medfield through Walpole, Dedham, Weymouth and on to neighborhoods in Boston.
She says the safety aspects of natural gas pipelines running through populated areas is only one concern.
"And if these new pipelines are built, it will increase our dependence on polluting natural gas, and make it nearly impossible for our state to meet our legally mandated goals to reduce climate pollution," she maintains.
Kirkland says her group disputes the energy company's claim that it is safe to transport fracked gas, and thinks not enough focus has been put on the impacts on Bay Staters' health or the environment.
