It's Good to Live in a Two-Daily Town

From our Local Dailies DisADvantage desk

An outfit called Consumers for Sensible Energy ran this ad in the Boston Sunday Globe yesterday (but not the Boston Herald).

The body copy:

CFSE appears to be a consortium of every local non-profit that’s ever hugged a tree. From their Allies page:

Here’s the issue, according to the group’s website:

Last Week, Kinder Morgan announced that it has suspended its Northeast Energy Direct pipeline project to import fracked gas from Pennsylvania to New England and to connect to export terminals in Canada for shipment overseas.

That was great news, but it is only half the story. There is a second pipeline company proposing to import more fracked gas. And, once again consumers would pay for the $3 billion cost, with a monthly pipeline tax on their bills.

Spectra Energy has proposed its Access Northeast project, which would expand and add new pipeline from West Boylston to Weymouth and down to Acushnet. It calls for the construction of a massive liquefied natural gas facility and new compressor station on the South Coast and South Shore.

Among the Bad News Bearers about the other half of the story was this Globe piece last week.

Weymouth mayor continues talks with Spectra Energy despite local objection

Mayor Robert Hedlund says he’s talking to Spectra Energy about a mitigation package involving millions of dollars for the town if the company builds a natural-gas compressor station near the Fore River Bridge — despite his opposition to the project and calls from local residents to stop the talks.

“It would be irresponsible not to talk with them,” Hedlund said in a phone interview Tuesday. “We’re backed into a corner.”

The offer calls for a $12 million payment in the fall of 2016, followed by another $1 million annually for the next 14 years, and potentially more in property tax adjustments, according to Hedlund’s office.

Hedlund said attorneys for the town advised him that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission did not appear to be swayed by Weymouth’s concerns that the compressor station posed a safety threat — and would probably approve Spectra’s plans soon. The federal agency has ultimate authority over the project.

Understandably, Consumers for Sensible Energy wants to mobilize the opposition quickly, so its website billboarded this.

Ever diligent, the hardtweeting staff checked #StopThePipelineTax on Twitter and here’s what we found at 12 o’clock this morning.

Just to be clear: 18 hours after their five-figure Boston Globe ad hit the front doors of 220,000 Greater Bostonians, Consumers for (Dollars But No) Sensible Energy had generated up to zero responses on social media.

All due respect, but what the frack?