No: Project would put dense population at risk
In December, a construction crew penetrated a highpressure natural gas line near a Domino’s restaurant on West Broad Street, causing an explosion and fire. Such excavation incidents around pipelines are common in urban areas.
Had this been a large-diameter, highpressure transmission line, the explosion and fire would be of the magnitude of one in San Bruno, California, in 2010 that killed eight, destroyed 35 houses and damaged many more. Of course, one would never expect a gas company to propose such a line in a residential area.
In fact, Duke EnergyOhio wants to place an unprecedented large, high-pressure, natural-gas transmission line through several densely populated Cincinnati neighborhoods, as close as a few feet from businesses, homes, schools, hospitals and nursing homes, as Ohio does not have substantial set-back requirements.
This pipeline would be just a single misplaced construction dig away from an explosion that would dwarf the Columbus fire.
To see the danger zones of the route recommended by the staff of the Ohio Power Siting Board (OPSB) of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO), see the pipeline failure mapping tool developed by the opposition group NOPEcincy at https://nopecincy. org/pipeline-failureapp/. Examine the satellite view for the green route to see how close this pipeline is to structures.
It instantly becomes clear how callous Duke is in pursuing corporate profits at the expense of the lives and safety of Ohioans, as well as OPSB’s failure to protect the public.
Duke’s justification for this pipeline is based on two words: “need” and “balance”. “Need” is a key term in the OPSB guidelines, but mysteriously is not defined, leaving Duke to define it in a selfserving way.
Duke alleges that its current facility for meeting winter peak day heating demands — a propane-air mixing plant — is “old technology” and needs to be retired. In fact, Duke has already replaced much of the facility that it claims needs to be retired.
“Balance” means reducing reliance on a major gas source from the south, in Kentucky; but Duke’s plan changes that reliance by only a few percentage points. Duke is silent on why this dangerous route justifies this minor change given safer alternatives.
Duke-Energy is a profit-seeking firm, and as every economist learns, incentives matter — a lot. Let’s look at some of Duke’s incentives:
Due to a glut of natural gas from fracking in northeast Ohio and western Pennsylvania, with inadequate access to markets, Duke-Ohio has an incentive to greatly expand its pipeline infrastructure regardless of whether it’s cost-effective to serve Cincinnati, or even needed.
Duke-Ohio is a pure transmission company, producing no power itself, so its business plan emphasizes “midstream” transmission as its growth strategy. This line can be used to transmit gas out of the region to generate revenue from transport fees.
If presented as a local distribution line rather than a transmission line, Duke can obtain PUCO approval to recover the estimated $100 million cost from Cincinnati ratepayers, though only a fraction of the gas would be for local peaking use. Placing the pipeline in an urban area creates a fiction that it is to serve customers along the route.
What is Ohio doing to prevent this threat? Ostensibly, the OPSB holds hearings and makes a recommendation to the PUCO. But if a hearing held June 15 in Cincinnati is any indication, the fix is in.
Not one OPSB board member attended, and despite the 78 speakers opposing Duke’s plan (and some 3,000 letters of opposition), neither the hearing officer nor Duke’s attorney asked a single question.
Both Duke and the OPSB staff managed to miss the fact that the pipeline would be placed 150 feet from an active Superfund site. If this or the alternate line is approved, as we expect, which of Ohio’s cities will next confront this blatant disregard for its residents’ safety?