General area
Last night, at the end of Beer Night, Ginny Marcille-Kerslake took Luke Bauerlein, John McDevitt and me to see the pipeline. Which means we walked across the parking lot from Stolen Sun, came to a grassy area, walked down to the bank of a creek, and saw the pipeline. I know that for a lot of Chester County residents, “the pipeline” is an abstraction, so to the left is a map of where we were last night. This is Exton, just to the west of Route 100, and less than a mile north of Route 30. And this is just one little bit of the pipeline.
This is close to Lisa Drive, where sinkholes opened, and Sunoco/Energy Partners bought 5 houses from the owners, as their homes had become uninhabitable.
Guy who took our picture
A guy took our pictures. I was told that this is done whenever anyone looks at any part of the pipeline to intimidate people. Therefore, I waved and yelled “Howdy” to show how not intimidated I was, and then I took a picture of HIM.
I have inserted some pictures into this post in case you, like me, have never actually seen any part of the pipeline up close and personal. I’d seen pictures, but pictures don’t do it justice until you are standing there, seeing how close it is to people, homes and businesses. Therefore, I recommend you come to beer night next month and we can take a “field trip” about 20 paces across the parking lot.
Nearby apartments, and the creek
Earlier in the day, I had several conversations about the pipeline for a variety of reasons. Our little field trip just capped off my anger against all the people who think the pipeline is okay. It is NOT okay.
Construction site on the far side of the creek
To be clear, VERY CRYSTALLINE, I want to say publicly that ICC may end up supporting, through our endorsement process, people who have taken money from people in support of the pipeline. We’ll see how that turns out because our rule is that endorsements come from the full membership, and are not dictated by leadership. Our process will be the same as what we have undertaken in the past. Every full member of ICC who lives in Chester County will receive a ballot with all the countywide candidates from all parties listed. Each person can vote for whichever candidates(s) he/she chooses. Ballots will be mailed in to our PO box, and they will be counted to determine the ICC countywide endorsements. Right now, this is planned for August.
But PERSONALLY, I will not support any candidate who is in favor of the pipeline, has ever taken or dispersed funds in favour of the pipeline, or has in any other way supported it, or anyone who indirectly worked for its construction.
Pipeline in creek, with construction site
Those two parallel “black lines” are pipelines.
The explosion in Philly the other day shows how close we are to utter disaster right here in Chester County. The same materials that blew there, can blow here, and we may not be as lucky in terms of injuries and loss of life. I have always been against the pipeline, but since the explosion, it is now tops on my local list of issues. Not a threat, but a promise.