Dear Oak Ridge Town Council and Mayor,

I am writing to express my opposition to Williams Transco’s proposed Southeast Supply Enhancement Project. I am concerned about the project’s negative impacts to ratepayer utility bills, the lack of local benefits, and the safety risks it brings to our community.

This project is part of a larger proposed fracked gas buildout in the Southeast that would mainly fuel data centers in other parts of the state, bringing in no jobs to the local economy. Yet the pipeline’s own documentation states that they will recoup the $1.5 billion in construction cost with incremental increases to gas customers - which means captive ratepayers will bear the burden.

There are multiple identified high-consequence areas within the pipeline’s blast zone (or Pipeline Impact Radius), where there are schools and churches. The pipeline is proposed along an existing right-of-way that already contains 1-4 other pipelines of different types and various ages, most decades old. Aging pipelines are a safety risk, and the proposed pipeline is 42” and very high pressure. The pipeline company has not addressed how the construction of yet another pipeline could affect these existing aged pipes - or how the blast zone calculation could be affected with so many pipes co-located.

We in the community do not want to shoulder the risks and burdens of this pipeline, which would bring few if any benefits. I urge you to pass a resolution against Transco’s proposed Southeast Supply Enhancement Project (SSEP).