We ran this postcard program a couple of months ago. In light of the recent explosion in NY, Thank You to those who participated! Ron The following article is from USW Rapid Response: Were Paying for our Aging Infrastructure Whether directly or indirectly, pipelines threaten our security and cost us money. The photos at the right tell the story of America’s aging infrastructure. A gas line explosion is the suspected cause in the tragic deaths of eight people in New York’s Harlem neighborhood last week. The pipe serving the destroyed buildings includes a section that dates back to 1887. It’s not just in New York. Over the past decade, we’ve seen hundreds of explosions from the approximately 91,000 miles of aging, leak-prone pipeline that span across forty six states. • Big Costs – The costs go beyond just public safety. A Congressional report showed that in 2011, gas distribution companies leaked enough cubic feet of natural gas into the atmosphere to supply the state of Maine for almost a year. Companies have little incentive to fix the pipes given that they can pass on the cost of the leaked gas to consumers. From 2000-2011, that cost was at least $20 billion. The gas was never used nor accounted for. • An Environmental Cost – When pipelines leak, methane is released. Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas that’s at least 21 times more potent than carbon dioxide. • Fixing Pipelines = Supporting Steelworkers and Creating Jobs – Fixing our natural gas pipeline can be a powerful jobs program through installing, operating, maintaining and fabricating pipelines. Steelworkers do much of this work already. Those jobs can be supported and more can be created if we do this work right, with Buy America provisions. There are costs to fix our nation’s pipeline infrastructure, but the costs of inaction are greater. If your local hasn’t yet participated in the Invest in America postcard action, it’s not too late! We’re encouraging infrastructure investment, Buy American provisions, and a funding source for these projects. Please mail all completed cards to: USW Rapid Response 5 Gateway Center, 7th Floor Pittsburgh, PA 15243
Posted on: Tue, 18 Mar 2014 10:22:09 +0000
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