Pilgrim Pipeline Could Cause 'Significant' Environmental Impacts If Built, New York State Says

The controversial Pilgrim Pipeline has the potential to severely impact the environment in New York state should it be built, a environmental department from that state said in a recently released declaration on the project.

The New York Department of Environmental Conservation and Thruway Authority (CTA) said in a declaration issued Wednesday that there is the potential for “multiple significant adverse environmental impacts from the construction, operation, and maintenance of the pipeline.”

The New Jersey Sierra Club and North Jersey residents have made similar claims against the 178-mile double pipeline.

The pipeline would run through 30 New Jersey towns, including several in Bergen County. It would deliver up to 200,000 barrels of Bakken crude oil a day from Albany, New York through New Jersey to the Bayway Refinery in Linden. Gasoline and heating oil would be sent back up to New York. Bakken crude oil is a highly flammable and toxic to the environment.

“Once the litany of its impacts is confirmed… Pilgrim’s pipelines should be, must be, denied because there are no social or economic benefits that could ever outweight the community and environmental harm it is likely to cause,” said Kate Hudson, director of Cross Watershed Initiatives, an organization that works to safeguard the drinking water of the 9 million New York City and Hudson Valley residents.

The pipeline would disturb more than 1,300 acres of land in New York and cross more than 250 bodies of water, including major tributaries of the Hudson River, including the Wallkill and Catskill rivers, on its way to New Jersey.

In New York, the pipeline would be constructed on land where the water table is less than three feet deep, causing soil erosion and could significantly impact water quality and animals’ habitats.

The pipeline would transport oil and gasoline across several groundwater aquifers, including the Ramapo River Basin and two New York City public water supply systems aqueducts.

Flooding could also be worsened if the pipeline is installed. Several pumping stations and access roads are located in a 100-year floodplain, including in New Jersey and could make future floods worse than if the pipeline wasn’t there.

More than 60 municipalities in New York and New Jersey, including 28 in Bergen County, have passed resolutions opposing the construction of the pipelines.

Fifteen municipalities, including Oakland and Mahwah, have created the Municipal Pipeline Group in response to the pipeline. The group has made claims similar to the CTA. The group said the pipeline would negatively impact North Jersey property values.

Several unions created a coalition supporting the pipeline and the 2,000 jobs it could bring with it should it be built.

Send local news tips, photos and press releases to daniel.hubbard@patch.com

Related: Residents Continue To Lobby Hard Against Pilgrim Pipeline

Related: Coalition Created To Fight Pilgrim Pipeline

Related: Unions Create Coalition To Support Pipeline Project

The Hudson River Valley in Bear Mountain, New York — Photo by Daniel Mennerich, used with permission via Creative Commons license