Algonquin Pipeline Foes Stage 'Die-in' Protest at Company's Info Session

Residents from Rockland, Putnam, and Westchester Counties conducted a die-in at Spectra’s Atlantic Bridge Open House last night in Yorktown.

They were protesting the expansion of the Algonquin Pipeline from New York to Massachusetts.

In particular they object to the segmentation of the expansion into three projects. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has approved the first, the AIM project; Spectra is now going through the approval process for the Atlantic Bridge project, which replaces different segments of pipe over the same route, and its Access Northeast project is on the drawing board.

RELATED:

• FERC Says Environmental Impacts of Pipeline Expansion Minimal
• Peaceful Resistance Training Offered to Opponents of Pipeline Expansion
• Is Algonquin Expansion Part of System Upgrade: FERC

They also protesting that FERC approved the AIM project without the independent health and risk assessments called for by numerous local, state, and Federal elected officials.

“I myself participated because as a scientist, a homeowner, and a mother, it is clear that this project is being allowed to proceed without sufficient oversight from Federal agencies tasked with ensuring our health and safety,” said Peekskill resident Courtney Williams.

Additional information on the project can be found at www.SAPE2016.org

The group issued a statement at 9PM last night:

Residents of Westchester, Rockland and Putnam are holding a “die- in” at 7:00 p.m. at the Yorktown American Legion Hall at 235 Veterans Rd. in Yorktown Heights, NY. The participants are mothers, fathers, grandmothers, grandfathers, medical professionals and other citizens who are opposed to Spectra Energy’s three gas pipeline expansion projects that pose unacceptable health and safety risks to the entire region.

The multi-billion dollar energy company is holding an Open House tonight for the Atlantic Bridge project, the second of three proposals to transport massive quantities of fracked gas through New York, into New England and then on to Canada and beyond. The company appears to be attempting to avoid full environmental review by segmenting the projects. In April 2014, the DC Circuit Court issued a decision in the matter of impermissible segmentation in Delaware Riverkeeper Network v. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (2014). The court ruled in this case that FERC failed to provide a cumulative impact analysis for a series of upgrades to the Tennessee Gas Pipeline system.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued its approval for the first of the Spectra Algonquin expansion projects, the Algonquin Incremental Market (AIM) expansion, last week. The FERC motion states that Spectra is not segmenting the projects. However, Spectra Energy delayed its pre-filing for the Atlantic Bridge project from November 2014 until February 2015, which happened to be just after the final Environmental Impact Statement for the AIM project was released. Though FERC issued a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity on January 23, 2015, it is conditional on approval of permits from state agencies, including the New York State Department of Environmental. Many elected officials, including Senators Gillibrand and Schumer have called for independent health and safety assessments, yet FERC chose to ignore these request by issuing the Certificate.

FERC’s certificate also dismisses the possibility of export of the gas from the Spectra AIM project, although the Algonquin transmission pipeline system connects to Spectra Maritimes & Northeast pipelines in the U.S. and Canada. On October 24, 2014, Pieridae Energy applied for approval from the U.S. Department of Energy to export domestically produced gas from a proposed Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) export terminal in Goldboro, Nova Scotia, Canada.

The Goldboro website states,

“The natural gas supply feeding the project is to be delivered via the existing Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline, located directly adjacent to the project. The target markets for the LNG produced at the Goldboro LNG project are Europe, South America and Asia.” http://goldborolng.com.

Participants of the “die-in” object to FERC approval of the project and the dismissal of many relevant health and safety issues that were raised throughout the public comment period. The most alarming situation is the siting of a new 42 inch diameter pipeline less than 150 feet from vital structures at the Indian Point nuclear power plant. A pipeline safety expert and a nuclear expert believe that the premise for the approval of the project is based on unverified assumptions that are in direct conflict with sound engineering principals and common sense. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) accepted the plant operator’s estimated three-minute timeframe for the gas valves to be closed, but that timeframe is not substantiated anywhere.

Spectra’s Open House tonight is an affront to citizens of the region who feel that the federal government is allowing corporate profit to prevail over public risk.