Hen Hud Board Asks for Further Review of Algonquin/Spectra Pipeline

The Hendrick Hudson School Board has approved a resolution regarding the proposed Algonquin/Spectra Gas pipeline project.

In a resolution passed unanimously by the Board on September 10, the District asked both the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, along with any other involved agencies, to review and reconsider the District’s health, safety, and planning concerns—including alternate routes and alternate construction methodologies.

The School Board made a thorough review of the proposed project and determined that the pipeline, in its present iteration—“looping” through the Hamlet of Verplanck and into Cortlandt Manor—would pose a potentially serious threat to Hendrick Hudson schools and their students and families.

Algonquin’s proposed route makes landfall in Verplanck, runs across the middle of Blue Mountain Reservation, and northeast through the Furnace Brook Headwater Preserve, placing it within blocks of Buchanan-Verplanck, Frank G. Lindsey, and Hendrick Hudson High Schools.

Additionally, the proposed pipeline would run under high voltage power lines, above seismic fault lines, and close to a proposed high-voltage power converter station and a high-voltage, buried Champlain-Hudson power cable.

Superintendent Joseph E. Hochreiter wrote in a letter to the greater school community, “We implore both the federal government and state to ensure us that every safety precaution will be used and guarantee us that our schools will not be impacted.”

A copy of the resolution can be read at http://www.henhudschools.org/news.cfm?story=146323