The Daily Progress
by Scott D. Bazzarre

I would like to counter a recent letter that claimed the right thing for the new governor and his new administration to do would be to block the Atlantic Coast Pipeline (“Do right thing on pipeline,” The Daily Progress, Dec. 30, 2017). 

While the part about outspoken critics of Dominion and the ACP winning a significant amount of delegate races in the fall election is true, it is also true that most of these individuals were not located anywhere close to the pipeline route.

In fact, gubernatorial candidate Ed Gillespie, who supported the ACP, won nine impacted counties, including Augusta and Nelson counties.

Additionally, the writer’s claim about jobs is inaccurate. ACP has already signed an agreement to hire 13,000 skilled workers for this project, with the guarantee at least half of those must be residents from one of the three impacted states. These workers are highly trained, and are more than capable of constructing this project while mitigating environmental impacts.

As a small-businesses owner, I have hopes as well that the plan to hiring local businesses for some of the trades work could be helpful to us.

As the project nears final approval, I caution against opponents who advocate and condone an “any means necessary” approach to stopping this project.

The folks in Charlottesville have just recently learned the full extent of the costs associated with the rallies last summer. These financial costs of dealing with these rallies were staggering to the local government. I highly doubt the rural communities along the route can afford to spend tens of thousands of dollars (or more) if protesters decide to make this project the next Dakota Access protest, and I sincerely hope it will not come down to that.

Scott D. Bazzarre
Albemarle County

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