Officials, Citizens Demand Better Environmental Impact Statement for Pipeline

To the Editor:

Monday was the final day for public comment on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) on the Algonquin Incremental Market (AIM) Expansion. As expected, a flood of comments poured in from citizens, elected officials, non-profits, opposition groups, and New York State permitting agencies.

The public outcry against this project was reflected by the comments- with the main crux being that the DEIS is missing reams of information necessary to understand the impact this massive pipeline will have on the health, safety, and financial well-being of the thousands that live along its route.

Public outrage is one thing, but permitting agencies calling out FERC and Spectra for a DEIS so lacking that it renders them incapable of even considering the project is another.

The US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (NYCDEP) all commented with a laundry list of crucial information totally absent from the DEIS. They all called for the information to be provided and for Spectra to be forced to abide by their agency’s requirements before FERC issues its certificate on the AIM Project.

However, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) and New York State Attorney General’s Office came down hard on both Spectra and FERC.

The DEP admitted to sharing the concerns of the public and elected officials and urged FERC to address them. “In addition, other Parties, local legislatures, legislators and the public have filed numerous comments questioning the completeness of the DEIS. While we agree with some of those comments – and see no need to repeat them here – we believe they all need to be substantively addressed, and that the FERC Staff must prepare a supplemental draft EIS (SDEIS) once all the comments are addressed and all the information requested from Algonquin is provided, and that there be a minimum 60-day – but preferably 90-day - public comment period.”

After cataloging the numerous deficiencies in the DEIS including a glaring failure to consider both the AIM project and its follow-up dubbed Atlantic Bridge, the DEP Senior Attorney Larry S. Eckhaus closed by saying, “It is absolutely imperative that the FERC Staff prepare a [Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement] once all the above information is provided, and all public comments are substantively addressed, and that there be a 90-day - public comment period.

”The Attorney General’s office called sections of the DEIS “vague, incomplete, and deficient” when it comes to Indian Point Nuclear Power plant, “inadequate” in regards to the preventing storm water pollution in the reservoirs, and calls their lack of green house gas mitigation “a material deficiency.”

They urged FERC to “undertake a severe accident mitigation alternatives analysis to identify measures to mitigate the environmental impacts posed by [nuclear power facilities and an interstate gas pipeline in] close proximity to one another” as “the DEIS contains an incomplete and artificially narrow discussion...” They also asked that alternative routes be considered that “avoid schools, hospitals, and community centers, as well as fire, emergency services, and police stations.

”Throughout their comment, the Assistant Attorneys General Philip Bein and John J. Sipos cited case law supporting their points and urged FERC to abide by environmental law. The voice of dissent and reason is no longer limited to citizens, grass roots organizations, and local elected officials. State agencies have come out against the AIM DEIS and are demanding answers before FERC moves forward. Let us hope that FERC hears us.

Spectra will be making the rounds ‘updating’ towns on the AIM Project and fielding questions on their newly announced Atlantic Bridge and Access Northeast Projects also planned to impact Westchester. They will present to the Buchanan Town Board on October 6th and to the Somers Town Board on October 9th. for more info go to www.SAPE2016.org

Courtney M. Williams, Peekskill Resident