Bacon's Rebellion

Dueling Polls on the Pipeline Issue

—

by

James A. Bacon
in , ,

polls

Share this article

ADVERTISEMENT

(comments below)

Comments

Comments

2 responses to “Dueling Polls on the Pipeline Issue”

  1. Larrytheg Avatar
    Larrytheg

    both polls were “push” polls and both groups had the opportunity to present a fair question to be responded to – and chose not to.

    But I am truly amazed at this:

    ” That’s why the United States is a representative form of government, not a pure democracy. We put very few issues to a popular vote. We elect politicians and appoint bureaucrats to study complex issues and make difficult trade-offs. It’s an imperfect system at best, but it’s less odious than the alternatives. I don’t see the polls adding anything to the useful store of knowledge.”

    how do voters make truly informed decisions about who they elect then?

    is your view that those so elected “decide” …. for the voters?

    that’s a particularly scary thought with our current General Assembly.. to be perfectly honest.

    how about if you ask folks if a for-profit venture that is not a regulated monopoly – be allowed to use eminent domain to take land from private owners for it’s venture?

    would that be a fair question to ask?

    I think issues ARE and CAN BE complex but I also think they can be distilled down to some basic issues and unlike some – I do trust voters if they are presented with the true facts – to render a legitimate response.

    unfortunately – that’s not in the game plan of the Chamber and others.. these days… putting forth an honest proposition to voters is the last thing they want.

  2. Larrytheg Avatar
    Larrytheg

    Please don’t misunderstand the issue on eminent domain. I am totally in favor of competitive endeavor by any company to pursue a venture that would benefit both investors and the public but the environment has to be one in which all would-be competitors as well as others, including property owners have equitable opportunity.

    The problem comes when competitors claim that each venture is a public necessity and so all competitor have to have the right of eminent domain – even though none of the competitors will be a regulated monopoly.

    How can any and all of the proposals be a “public necessity” but not regulated and in the end only one – really economically viable – not all of them?

    so that’s a real problem.

    then you have this also:

    ” A recent report from Synapse Energy Economics revealed that, with upgrades and modification, the existing system of underground pipelines and other gas infrastructure could supply our region’s natural gas needs at least through 2030″

    http://pipelineupdate.org/2016/09/12/proposed-natural-gas-pipelines-not-needed/

    Now if you had a poll where you referenced this study and then also informed the person to be polled that the companies were going to use eminent domain – how would THAT poll turn out?

    I suspect that what the public would support would be a competition between the various companies including the companies who own the existing pipelines – and ONE would be picked as the winner and that all property owners become essentially investors with shares in the project.

    An “informed” public would not support multiple pipelines all using eminent domain for projects that were for-profit ventures – not regulated monopolies.

Leave a Reply

ADVERTISEMENT