Letter To The Editor: Pipeline Foes To March On Albany

To The Editor:

On Monday April 23rd thousands of New Yorkers will descend on Albany and march on the capitol. Among them will be residents of the Hudson Valley that have been fighting the AIM Pipeline expansion, and more recently demanding Governor Cuomo address the threat the pipelines pose to Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant.

The march is dubbed the Cuomo Walk The Talk on Climate March. New Yorkers across the state who have been harmed by Cuomo's climate hypocrisy have banded together to organize this march. They want the state to halt the buildout of fracked gas infrastructure, switch to renewable energy, and make polluters pay for the damage they've done. Activists from the Hudson Valley have another bone to pick- namely the massive gas pipelines running under Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant.

While the Governor likes to present himself as a climate leader for banning high-volume hydraulic fracturing (aka fracking) in New York, he's put millions at risk with his policy of building out fracked gas infrastructure in the state- namely pipelines and power plants that use fracked gas.

For over four years locals have been fighting to get Cuomo to halt the expansion of the "Algonquin" Pipeline that runs through New York from Rockland, through Westchester and Putnam on its way to Canada.

Cuomo is doing nothing to stop this massive pipeline from being expanded to carry fracked gas from Pennsylvania to Boston, where it will be exported to Canada. There were numerous opportunities for New York State to step in and stop the first phase of the expansion, which includes a large pipeline under the Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant and 105 feet from critical safety infrastructure at the plant.

At the 11th hour he asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to order Spectra Energy to stop work on the pipeline while the state conducted a risk assessment of the pipelines being under Indian Point. FERC ignored his request, and now, over two years later, the state has yet to produce the assessment.

Meanwhile, the Governor announced the closure of Indian Point and now as the state prepares for its closure, he still will not tell us what is in the assessment.

What is Governor Cuomo hiding? What is so damning in that risk assessment that he will not release it? Is it a coincidence that the risk assessment of the pipelines immediately preceded Entergy's decision to close the plant?

Is Governor Cuomo so beholden to the fracking industry that he won't even act to stop a gas pipeline that could endanger 20 million people if it were to rupture and damage the nuclear facility?

New Yorkers have a right to know the risks and a right to have the decommissioning of the plant done as safely as possible. That means not storing 40+ years of irradiated fuel within the blast radius of gas pipelines. (Note Indian Point is the only nuclear power plant in the country colocated with gas pipelines.)

And while a rupture of the pipeline at Indian Point would have catastrophic consequences, the normal daily operations of the pipeline are harming the people of the Hudson Valley and the climate.

Just this week children of the North Salem School District were forced to cancel all outdoor activities, including recess and sports, because of gas venting from the "Algonquin" Pipeline.

Fracking was banned in New York because of the public health risks. Why is Governor Cuomo risking our health and safety to build fracked gas pipelines and power plants?

On April 23rd, we're going to Albany to ask him.

Courtney M. Williams
Peekskill Resident
Co-founder Safe Energy Rights Group (www.SEnRG.org)