Grassroots Groups Working to Stop Gas Pipeline Expansion Challenge Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

Press release:

September 12, 2014, Westchester County, NY

Westchester-based grassroots groups Stop the Algonquin Pipeline Expansion (SAPE), Concerned Peekskill Residents (CPR), and Keep Yorktown Safe (KYS) have issued a sign-on letter to elected officials requesting that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) withdraw its flawed Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) on the proposed Algonquin Incremental Market (AIM) pipeline project, address all of the over 42 issues identified by FERC itself as unresolved, and include the risk assessments, environmental baseline testing and other issues that are called for in resolutions passed by local governments. The residents of impacted communities invited elected officials to sign on to a letter to FERC and to join them at a press event on Monday, September 15 at 5:30 p.m. prior to the only FERC public hearing in New York State. The hearing will begin at 6:30 pm at the Muriel Morabito Community Center, 29 Westbrook Drive in Cortlandt Manor, NY.

A detailed review of the DEIS reveals that virtually no aspect of the document is complete. One of the many glaring holes in the DEIS is its failure to adequately address the potentially catastrophic impacts of siting a 42-inch diameter, high-pressure gas pipeline in close proximity to residential neighborhoods, an elementary school, and the Indian Point nuclear energy center. “We’re not asking for life to be risk free. We just want the risks to be reasonable. I don’t know how anyone could characterize the addition of a 42-inch high pressure gas pipeline next to Indian Point and the intersection of two earthquake fault lines as being reasonable. If the 1,000 megawatt power lines are added to the mix it becomes totally absurd.” said Nancy Vann, resident of Peekskill and Cortlandt and cofounder of CPR.

The DEIS also fails to adequately address the proposed AIM project’s potential impact on wetlands, endangered and threatened species, and climate change. Additionally, residents recently learned of a second Spectra expansion project, the Spectra Atlantic Bridge project, including the installation of more 42-inch pipe and a further expansion of the gas compressor station in Southeast. “Yorktown will be hit twice. Spectra has broken up this full pipeline expansion into two projects, which many believe is a clear example of illegal segmentation,” said Lisa Mackay, a member of Keep Yorktown Safe. “The AIM project ends at Stoney Street in Yorktown and the Atlantic Bridge project begins only 22 feet across the road.”

Although the two Algonquin/Spectra projects will impact the same areas and extend the construction period in the affected regions, the DEIS fails to consider the cumulative impacts. Peekskill resident Erik Lindberg stated “We’re expecting up to two years of heavy construction to install a potentially dangerous pipeline right next to homes and schools. Worse, this is only one of several projects that will eventually cut through large sections of Westchester and into Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts. We only get to see a small portion of the company’s plans at one time, but residents in four states will be living with the consequences for a long time.”

“We believe that the DEIS is inadequate as a National Environmental Policy Act document, and urge the Commission to withdraw the deficient DEIS, address all outstanding issues, issue a supplemental DEIS, and then submit it for public comment,” said Susan Van Dolsen of SAPE.

FERC released the DEIS regarding the AIM project on August 6, 2014. The AIM Project would involve the construction and operation of nearly 40 miles of pipeline and associated equipment and facilities in New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts. The DEIS comment period is scheduled to close on September 29, 2014.

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