Duke Energy needs to replace an aging pipeline, built in the 1950s, near Cincinnati, OH–or some people in Cincy will have to go without natural gas. Last Thursday the Ohio Power Siting Board (OPSB) held the first of two public hearings, to grant anti-pipeliners the opportunity to vent (see Hearings Scheduled for Proposed Duke Pipeline in Cincinnati). Duke has proposed a 13-mile, 20-inch pipeline along two potential routes. Both routes are opposed by antis, including a group calling themselves NOPE–Neighbors Opposing Pipeline Extension. We call them DOPEs–Dummies Opposing Pipeline Extensions. Will the DOPEs volunteer to shut off the natural gas to their homes and businesses if the pipeline doesn’t get built? Not on your life! Last week’s meeting didn’t disappoint. The DOPEs turned out and predicted Armageddon would occur if the pipeline gets built. However, something pretty interesting happened. Only ~100 people turned out to speak against the pipeline. The population of Cincinnati is around 300,000 people. So something like 3/100ths of a percent of the people turned up for the meeting. MDN editor Jim Willis has attended similar pipeline meetings in rural towns of 1,000 people where the auditorium was filled with 250-300 people! Some 100 people turning up to talk down a pipeline in Cincinnati says to us the fight is already over. There IS NO opposition to the pipeline. Not any real, meaningful opposition that will stop it, regardless of what anti publications like the Enquirer say. And then there was the ultimate salt in the DOPE’s wounds: not a single member of the OPSB turned up for their own hearing! They sent a court reporter to record/transcribe what the speakers said. Why should OPSB board members give up an evening to listen to nutters rant and rave?…
