Letter to the Editor: 2nd Natural Gas Pipeline Proposal Would Extend Expansion

To the Editor:

Spectra/Algonquin have announced a new project that will further extend the massive 42” pipeline through Westchester and Fairfield Counties, within 1.75 miles of the Putnam Border. The current project residents are fighting is called the AIM (Algonquin Incremental Market Expansion). The new project that they’ve announced is called the Atlantic Bridge Project. (You can see their map here: http://www.spectraenergy.com/content/inline-images/Maps/map_atlantic_bridge_full2.jpg)

Spectra will be right back in our area further extending the 42” segments of the pipeline and making the Stony Point and Brewster Compression stations larger yet again! (The AIM project already enlarges it significantly, Atlantic Bridge would make it larger again).

From these two projects, it is pretty clear that Spectra/Algonquin will be back again after Atlantic Bridge. If they do, Putnam and the rest of Danbury is on the line. From the end of the Atlantic Bridge project, there is less than 2 miles of pipe left in Westchester to be enlarged before the pipeline crosses into Putnam.

The AIM Project is bad for our entire area- bringing a massive increase in emissions from the compressor stations. If AIM and Atlantic Bridge are allowed to proceed, we’re looking at 3 to 4 years of MASSIVE construction. In the long term we’re looking at TONS of additional emissions from the compressor stations polluting the air and impacting our health, not to mention the risk of rupture from a pipe that has 300% the capacity of the one it’s replacing.

We need people to know about this. We need Putnam, Rockland and Westchester residents to stand together now and stop the current AIM project. There is an info session on Monday in Danbury, see flyer attached. There will be a group of residents with information at Cortlandt Family Fun Day this weekend in Cortlandt.

To get an idea of what to expect in terms of the construction area, you can see a map of the AIM construction work area in Westchester here: http://goo.gl/Y3EmNP

- Courtney WilliamsPeekskill Resident