Mr Davies sent a message to Joe Gorder President and CEO, Valero Energy Corporation – email address that said:
Dear Sir,
Our property has the pipeline running directly through our back garden. We have always had a good relationship with Valero Fisher German in the past. We appreciate the importance of the pipeline and the necessity to undertake repairs, ourselves and homeowners on adjacent properties have been particularly understanding and also realise the spill of kerosene was an accident and that further work has been needed to rectify the problem.
However, as a family and resident affected acutely (our property is around 50m away from new valve) by ongoing work we have several grievances which has left us feeling aggrieved and disappointed. They are outlined below:
• We have a young family, our child is disabled and my wife is 34 weeks pregnant, getting children to sleep has been extremely fraught as the bright lights were shining directly at our bedrooms and in fact penetrated our windows even when curtains were fully drawn. Furthermore, the children have not been able play in the garden for weeks as the noise of workmen and heavy machinery has been apparent regularly before 7am and after 8pm. Generators are running 24hrs a day – as a result we have been forced out of our house for four weekends to escape the stress of the situation.
• We feel that the work has been intrusive as workmen have been able to look directly into our living rooms/bedrooms. This has ultimately lead to an invasion of privacy.
• The lack of communication has impacted adversely on the situation, had residents been told of what was going to happen, we could have made appropriate plans. However, 10 men cutting trees down at 7a.m on a Sunday morning without any prior warning was very stressful. The letter for the work carried out was produced 2 days later. Again, we understood the work had to be undertaken, but there was no communication of this in advance.
• Safety fencing between our property and the works area was not rectified until last week.
• We are now exposed directly to the noise and light of vehicles from the dual carriageway during the day and night.
• The price of our property has reduced.
• We have been respectful and mindful of the fact that that your employees access our land when deemed necessary but we extremely disappointed that the same respect and courtesy has not been reciprocated.
In summary, the whole experience had left us exhausted. My children and wife have had to endure very difficult daily routines which has had a detrimental impact significantly on our lives. We have not spoken to the media and feel we been accommodating, but the response to date has been unsympathetic to what we have had to endure. As I have mentioned previously we have always had a good relationship in the past but this whole experience has left us feeling frustrated and bitter. Going forward I would like a meeting with a Valero representative as opposed to a Fisher German employee to discuss how the situation can be rectified and compensation for what has happened.
Yours sincerely,
Mr Mrs Davies
