Pipeline Foes Give Tour Near Indian Point to Concerned Medical and Disaster Experts

CORTLANDT, NY — A group of opponents of the Algonquin Pipeline expansion plan took health care professionals, nuclear and disaster experts, public officials and members of the public on a tour of the pipeline's route past the Indian Point nuclear plant Tuesday morning.

The tour and press conference was hosted by Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR), a national organization comprised of medical professionals, that has been advocating for public health and safety for over 50 years. It eatured Dr. Irwin Redlener, Director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Earth Institute at Columbia University and Paul Blanch, a nuclear power expert who has been an outspoken foe of Spectra Energy's pipeline project.

Numerous documents in the record submitted by safety experts including Blanch to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), and other state and federal agencies reflect their concerns regarding the lack of pipeline thermodynamics expertise and the absence of comprehensive independent risk, health and safety assessments of the co-location of these two major hazardous sites despite repeated urgent calls for such evaluations.

The activists complained in a press release of the "dangerous siting of the 42 inch diameter, high pressure Spectra AIM gas pipeline only 105 feet from vital structures at the aging Indian Point nuclear power plant located near two major earthquake fault lines in the most densely populated region in the nation. The pipeline construction which is nearing completion is targeted for operation on November 1st further heightening experts' warnings and deep concerns regarding the unacceptable risk the pipeline poses to more than 20 million people in the region and the imperative to immediately halt construction and operation of the pipeline project to avert a potential nuclear disaster. "

Jerry Nappi, a spokesman for Indian Point, said in response: "The pipeline is located about a quarter-mile from Indian Point not the 100 feet claimed today, and an independent assessment demonstrated its failure would have no impact on nuclear safety at Indian Point. It is unfortunate that people would use misinformation about the proximity of the pipeline to the plant to try to frighten the public. "

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

“As a New York-based public health physician and on behalf of my patients and their communities, I call on Governor Cuomo, Senators Schumer and Gilibrand, Congress members Lowey and Engel, and other elected officials to urge President Obama and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to halt the construction and upcoming operation of the AIM pipeline. With the significant risks amplified by the construction of the high- pressure AIM pipeline nearby the already dangerous and aged Indian Point nuclear power plant, the time to act is NOW. We need to think proactively and prevent any potential disaster that will have significant public health, safety and environmental consequences to the millions of people living in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut – both now and into the future,” said Dr. Shannon Gearhart, Past-president, Physicians for Social Responsibility/New York in the press release.