Spectra Energy defends donation to Catholic scholarship fund

Published: Wednesday, August 03, 2011, 3:00 AM
By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal

The Houston-based energy company that has plans to run a natural gas pipeline through Bayonne and Jersey City presented $50,000 yesterday to a scholarship fund for children to attend local Catholic high schools.

The donation from Spectra Energy to the Scholarship Fund for Inner-City Children will help students from Jersey City, Bayonne, Hoboken and Linden either attend or continue their education at Catholic schools in the area, said Monsignor Kevin Hanbury, vicar for education and superintendent of schools for the Archdiocese of Newark.

One of the $1,000 grants will go to Hoboken resident Roberto Montanez, a 14-year-old Hudson Catholic student entering his sophomore year. His mother, Jessica Santiago, 33, said the donation is coming at the perfect time.

?I?ve been struggling, working overtime? to pay tuition, said Santiago ?We feel very, very happy and grateful.?

Spectra has proposed extending an existing gas pipeline for 15.5 miles through parts of Bayonne, Jersey City and offshore Hoboken. The proposal, currently awaiting approval by federal officials, has been opposed by numerous community groups and public officials, including Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy.

Spectra officials said yesterday the company?s donation to the scholarship fund had nothing to do with winning hearts and minds in Hudson.

?It?s really part of Spectra?s culture,? said Spectra vice president Bill Yardley at the ceremony, held in the gymnasium of Hudson Catholic High School in Jersey City.

Gerry O?Connor & the Jersey City Catholic school system should release a public statement condemning the plans to build a massive pipeline through Jersey City.

It is in the school's interest to prevent this mega disaster waiting to happen.

Take the money, use it to campaign against Spectra's plans, and be open about it.

Everybody that gets a donation from Spectra should use it to fight the pipeline.

I wouldn't love it if our public schools took money from Spectra but I have no problem with a Catholic or private school taking money. They are struggling as it is and I think the point that unless you give money yourself to these schools or are a current family member, you have nothing to complain about.

St Dom's girls always were a feisty bunch

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That?s not a sound reason to willingly participate in a PR stunt with an organization that seeks to increase the risk of property loss and public safety in Jersey City.

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Yvonne makes a good point. It's easier to tsk-tsk than it is to cough up some much-needed cash. If you love your alma mater so much, say it in dollars.

I stand by my statement. I've known teachers who turned down employment with public schools to stay with their Catholic Schools only to have the schools close down the road.
By the way, Yvonne is my real name I am not hiding out.

Who are you to pick an argument with me? Would you say this to my face, or do you just sit on this list and pick fights with people on your laptop like a coward? You know nothing about me so mind your business.

While you are lecturing your school about accepting money from Spectra, I hope you are opening your check book to write a large donation. Many people who graduated from Catholic Schools have forgotten their responsibility to help the next generation.

As a St. Dominic's alumna, I am appalled that my school will have staff and students accepting money from Spectra. Spectra Corporation and what it is doing here in JC goes against everything I was taught at St. Dom's. It is possible that St. Dom's and the other schools are not aware of the pipeline situation. I plan to contact the school to make them aware and urge them to reconsider accepting money from Spectra.

If any of you are graduates of St. Dom's, Prep, or the other schools please contact them and ask them to reconsider taking money. It's a very small amount of money, so it shouldn't be hard to change minds.

If I have to look at students from my Alma Mater taking a check from those Spectra people, I'll puke.

Gas pipeline company Spectra Energy giving $50,000 to scholarship fund for Catholic school students

Tuesday, July 26, 2011, 8:32 AM
By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal

Spectra Energy, the Houston energy giant that wants to build a gas pipeline though parts of Hudson County, has committed $50,000 to a scholarship fund that will benefit Jersey City, Bayonne, Hoboken and Linden students attending local Catholic high schools.

Gerry O?Connor, executive director of the Scholarship Fund for Inner-City Children, said the donation will allow 50 students to receive $1,000 each for the upcoming school year.

?We are grateful to Spectra Energy for this very generous gift,? O?Connor said.

Spectra?s controversial proposal to extend an existing pipeline 15.5 miles from Linden through parts of Bayonne, Jersey City and offshore Hoboken has met with stiff resistance from large swaths of those communities.

Spectra tried in March to donate $1,000 to the Jersey City Board of Education to help fund a music program, but the BOE turned down the donation, with members saying they didn?t think it appropriate to accept money from Spectra.
A Spectra official said yesterday that the company believes in investing in communities where the company does business.

Spectra will officially bestow the grant at a ceremony next Tuesday at Hudson Catholic Regional High School, 790 Bergen Ave., Jersey City.