Kincardine, Huron-Kinloss, Arran-Elderslie not amused by Union Gas open houses

Kincardine, Huron-Kinloss and Arran-Elderslie are not pleased with local open houses outlining Union Gas' proposal to extend its natural gas line into the South Bruce area, now that the three municipalities have signed franchise agreements, allowing EPCOR Utilities Inc. to proceed to the next step in developing and building a natural gas line in the area.

The three mayors have sent a letter to Union Gas in response to an E-mail from Murray Costello, Union Gas district manager for the Waterloo/Brantford district.

In that E-mail, Costello invites the South Bruce communities to attend open houses next week to discuss the Union Gas proposal.

"I realize that your municipality is working with EPCOR to investigate the potential of providing service, and we are simply using our open houses as an opportunity to inform residents that there are options available in terms of providing service," states Costello."Union Gas is one of those options and we bring with us more than 100 years’ experience in building and operating natural gas infrastructure in the more than 220 municipalities we serve in Ontario."

He states that the Union Gas proposal, if approved by the Ontario Energy Board (OEB), would see natural gas expanded to 29 rural and First Nation communities, including the South Bruce communities.

In response, the Kincardine mayor Anne Eadie, Huron-Kinloss mayor Mitch Twolan, and Arran-Elderslie mayor Paul Eagleson state that they are puzzled why Union Gas would proceed to hold open houses in these communities, in light of the developments with EPCOR.

"We are very concerned that our citizens will be confused by Union's activities," states the joint letter, dated Feb. 26. "We do not view Union's approach to its public information sessions as responsible or appropriate in the circumstances.

"To be open and transparent with our citizens, we kindly ask that Union commit to convey to the public at each open house, in writing, the fact that EPCOR now holds the franchise rights to distribute natural gas in our three municipalities, and our expectation that EPCOR will file its Leave to Construct application in a timely fashion after the OEB generic hearing has been decided, which we expect will occur by this summer."

To read the entire letter, click here.

Open houses are, apparently, being held next week in Kincardine, Lucknow and Chesley.