“Outrageous bill would declare all natural gas infrastructure…’in the public interest'”

Wow, this is FUBAR.

Hi xxx,

I'm sorry to email you twice in one day. I didn't include this ACTION ALERT, because it just seemed to add too much information — And, of course, the focus in the earlier email needed to be:

Attend the Dominion Open House tomorrow night!  

But I need to send out this very important message because our immediate action could “make or break” this unscrupulous bill – and we need to break it!

The bill, HB 1475, titled Natural gas utilities; recovery and deferral of system expansion infrastructure costs, will be brought up for committee vote THIS Thursday, Jan. 15 (the day after tomorrow!)

This outrageous bill would 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.  

To stop HB 1475 before it gets to the General Assembly Floor, we need to call or email the Delegates on the committee (listed below along with their contact information)—today or tomorrow.    

HB 1475 states 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 Atlantic Coast Pipeline 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 would make rate-payers pay for the expansion of natural gas infrastructure, and would prohibit the State Corporation Commission, (the regulatory agency!) from asking too many questions.

Working together, we can prevent this shameless attempt by private corporations to rig our laws in their favor.

Thanks for all you do—And see you tomorrow at Nelson County High School!

Joanna Salidis, President, Friends of Nelson