When Liberty Utilities bought the right to distribute natural gas to Concord’s homes and businesses, they bought more than a tidy flow of revenue and profits. They also assumed a set of obligations, including protecting the health and safety of their customers and the air quality of their service area. And they took title to the gasholder building, a structure whose uniqueness and historical significance is cited in the National Park Service’s “Historic American Engineering Record.”
Liberty wants to tear it down and get the financial liability of upkeep and restoration off their books. They knew what they were buying when they wrote the check. They planned, perhaps from the very beginning, to rid themselves of the troublesome building. Not so fast! Their “property rights” have to stop short of the wanton destruction of a historical treasure.
If Liberty Utilities insists on dismantling such a cultural heritage site, perhaps the company itself ought to be dismantled and sufficient assets sold off to fund the preservation. I have no doubt another corporation will be more than willing to step in and keep the gas flowing. Will it be one that takes more seriously a public utility’s good-citizenship responsibility to the public?
WILLIAM POLITT
Weare