Plainfield — In spite of occasional snow squalls and freezing temperatures on the hilltop, more than 80 citizens from across western Massachusetts gathered at a Plainfield farm that Kinder Morgan, the natural gas pipeline corporation, is planning to use as a pipe yard — a large contractors’ field where pipeline segments would be stacked and heavy equipment parked during the year and a half of construction of the Northeast Energy Direct pipeline.
The property, currently used for corn crops, is APR (Agricultural Preservation Restriction) protected farmland. APR is “a permanent deed restriction which precludes any use of the property that will have a negative impact on its agricultural viability.” Release of this land from this restriction cannot be done by the owners. Hopefully if taken by eminent domain some sort of no-net-loss agreement can be made so that equal or higher quality farm land is purchased as replacement, but this doesn’t change the fact that a large patch of prime farmland would be forever damaged.
There were people from Northampton, Shelburne Falls, Hawley, Peru, North Adams, Pittsfield, Buckland, Florence, Lanesborough and other area towns. Also in attendance was a large section of 30-inch diameter pipe that will be going on tour to rallies in other towns where contractor yards are proposed.
The rally was held on the same day as a Non-Violent Direct Action training organized by Plainfield Opposes the Pipeline (POP) at the Plainfield Town Hall, and folks attending the workshop joined in the rally during their lunch break. The crowd sang along with Cummington performers Joshua Wachtel and Sarah Stockwell-Arthen and listened to statements from Polly Ryan of POP and Jim Cutler of Ashfield’s Hilltown Community Rights, as well as a run of “open mic” comments and updates from other citizen-activists.
“This fight has grown beyond just a pipeline wreaking fracked-gas havoc in people’s lives. It’s become a matter of democracy,” declared Polly Ryan,an affected landowner and member of POP who helped organize the rally. “So many people have spoken against this project, yet FERC (Federal Energy Regulatory Commission) and KM keep moving forward. So it’s about getting my voice back, having the courage to speak up for what I believe is right and engaging democracy in the face of our capitalistic driven government.”
The Mass.gov website describes the purpose of APR land as follows; “The primary purpose of the APR program is to preserve and protect agricultural land, including designated farmland soils, which are a finite natural resource, from being built upon for non-agricultural purposes or used for any activity detrimental to agriculture and to maintain APR land values at a level that can be supported by the land’s agricultural uses and potential.”
In addition to the pipes themselves, the staging area would be used for other construction materials including explosives for blasting. The soil will be compacted by heavy equipment and trucks. Soil contamination may result from storage of hazardous materials and there will be the inevitable leakage of oil and hydraulic fluids. An access road for large trucks entering from Rt. 116 would be built through the field. This is the same piece of land that the U.S. Air Force proposed using for the Northeast Regional Communications Facility in 1985 which the towns of Ashfield and Hawley successfully halted.
Twenty-seven percent of the proposed Northeast Energy Direct pipeline route traverses conserved types of properties in Massachusetts.
