The gas face

Spectra blue shirts engage in some information overload

The blue shirts scattered like cockroaches in the kitchen when I aimed my point and shoot camera in their direction. “Nobody wants to see my ugly mug,” says one of the Spectra Energy reps at yesterday’s Open House in the gym at PS #9 on Mercer Street.

Texas-based Spectra, which wants to build a natural gas pipeline extension through some area neighborhoods, is holding several Open House events to get property owner feedback. Fortunately for Spectra, their reps far out-numbered property owners yesterday, and what some of us thought would be a public discussion (on the insane notion of building a gas pipeline extension through my backyard!), turned out to be a public relations bum rush. 

The tightly-controlled event felt like one of those Florida time share seminars, where they put you up in a nice hotel for the weekend but you gotta sit through three hours of hard sell. There were light refreshments and a table full of Spectra water bottles and other chotchkies. (Take one!) Spectra has hired a sub-contractor from Denver to supply “specialists,” who walked property owners through maps of the proposed pipeline route.

“What’s with all the blue shirts,” I ask Dave, one of the sub-contractors.

“Well, it’s just so people can identify us more easily,” he says.

“Don’t you feel a little like a salesman at Best Buy,” I ask, trying to be funny.

“Not at all,” he replies, very seriously. “We’re just here to answer any questions property owners may have. Are you a property owner in the neighborhood?”

When I explain that, far from being a property owner, I’m actually a member of the press, Dave tightens up even further and points me towards Marylee Hanley, Spectra’s director of stakeholder outreach. “She’s really handling all media inquiries.”

Strength in numbers

Hanley, a pursed woman with a very serious demeanor, is the busiest Spectra rep on the floor tonight. Of the 10 or so non-Spectra employees at the event, four of us are reporters. “What do you think of the turnout,” I ask her. “Well, it’s early,” she says, pointing to a clock on the wall, which reads 6:45 p.m. (The event started at 6 p.m.)

Hanley explains that the company preferred to meet with individuals rather than give a big presentation. “There are so many maps for people to look at it, it would be hard to see them if we were up on a stage in an auditorium. We think this is a more efficient way to do it.”

I eavesdrop on one of the conversations between a “specialist” and a young couple. “Is this where the pipeline is going to travel,” asks the woman. “This is a proposed route. It’s all very preliminary … there are a lot of variables. We’re here to answer any questions people may have about the process,” explains the Spectra rep. “But when will we know where it’s actually going to go,” asks the woman. “That’s what these Open House events are for,” says the guy in the blue shirt. Huh?

Hanley says the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is the watchdog over the company’s plans, with appropriate local authorities granting permissions as well. I ask her why only property owners were invited to the Open House and she says they’re the immediate “stakeholders” in the plan.

“After we gather information from our Open House events, we’ll have a public meeting, where everyone will be invited to attend,” she says. By then, Spectra will have theoretically gathered all the information it needs from the (few) property owners it meets at these Open House events.

Outside, I ask the couple if they learned anything tonight. “They said it was an information open house, but then they said they don’t have any idea where they’re going to build,” says the woman. “I’m more suspicious now than I was when I got here.”

That makes two of us.