Update: Foes of Algonquin Pipeline Expansion Leave after 16 Hours Inside Pipe Segment

CORTLANDT, NY – After more than 16 hours inside lengths of pipeline along the Hudson River halting construction, four protesters voluntarily removed themselves.

They said their action was taken to stop Spectra Energy from dragging its 42-inch diameter, high pressure, fracked-methane gas pipeline under the Hudson River, alongside the aging and failing Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant.

“Knowing Spectra plans to re-use pipeline segments damaged in their failed attempt to run the pipeline under the Hudson, we feared they might do the same with pipe damaged by any process to extricate us," said local Yorktown resident and self-styled Hudson River Protector Rebecca Berlin in a press release. "We made the choice to leave of our own volition and avoid any further damage because we will not endanger the community we are working to protect.”

The protesters said they also took the action on Columbus Day, which they called "Indigenous People Day," in solidarity with the Standing Rock Tribe water protectors, and their allies, standing up against the Dakota Access Pipeline in North Dakota. Enbridge, which recently announced that it will purchase Spectra, is also a $1.5 billion investor in Dakota Access.

The protesters were inside the pipeline for just over 16 hours, interfering with construction on the week the HDD was planned. Three support people were also arrested, protest organizers said.

The inside-the-pipe protest is the latest in an ongoing effort to stop Spectra Energy from constructing their Algonquin Incremental Market Expansion project. FERC has denied requests from local and state officials to halt the project until more review is done about its proximity to Indian Point.

The protesters provided comments from six of the folks who were arrested:

“Pipelines carrying filthy fossil fuels are putting communities at risk all over the United States - from North Dakota to New York and elsewhere,” Berlin said. “The AIM pipeline must be stopped. Spectra is endangering the community I've lived in my entire life. Spectra is putting our wetlands, our children, and our lives in danger in order to make profit from selling Liquid Natural Gas, a finite resource and fossil fuel, overseas. We cannot continue to consume so much of earth's natural resources at the expense of our communities’ well-being. I want to stop Spectra because my community’s health, safety, and wildlife is more important than profit.”

Mackenzie Wilkins said: “Spectra's AIM Pipeline, like the Dakota Access Pipeline, and like all oil and gas lines, is a huge health and safety risk to the communities it passes through. If completed, the line would pass within 150 feet of schools, homes, and the Indian Point nuclear power plant and would lock us into decades more of fracking, water and air contamination, and climate destabilizing methane emissions. I am taking action to support communities along Spectra's Pipeline that are fighting for a more just, sane, and sustainable world.”

Dave Publow said: “There is no reasonable argument for installing a gargantuan gas pipeline--in effect a perpetual pipe bomb--next to a decrepit nuclear power plant. Yet this is what Texas-based Spectra Energy and international Enbridge are doing – neither of these companies have any connection to our community. Also, we have no functioning regulatory structure that places the safety of our community first. FERC is a rubber stamp machine long removed from accountability. The state permitting process is now based on legal trickery and insider deals. And since the system has failed us, we will have to do this ourselves.”

Janet Gonzalez, a Westchester County resident said: “I'm taking action against Spectra because our country is heading into an energy crisis. We imperil our future by depending on a depleting finite resource. Fracked gas, tar sands, and deep water drilling are the bottom of the resource pyramid. We must transition to a post-carbon world with renewables. Otherwise, we risk cooking the planet.”

Two arrested support people:
Judy Allen: “Putting a 42” pipeline of fracked gas next to a nuclear plant that is a mile from the junction of two earthquake faults in the Hudson River is criminally insane.”

JK Canepa: “Honored to be in solidarity on this Indigenous Peoples' Day with those at Standing Rock and against a company that uses the name Algonquin to continue catastrophic climate change.”

Spectra Energy’s plan to enlarge the pipeline includes three projects so far.

• The AIM Project involves the construction, installation, operation, and maintenance of 37.4 miles of pipeline and related facilities in New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. Most of the pipeline installation will replace existing pipeline with larger diameter pipeline.
• Atlantic Bridge includes replacement of another 10.9 miles of existing pipeline with new larger diameter pipe.
• Access Northeast includes the expansion of approximately 125 miles of the existing Algonquin pipeline system, plus new lines and facilities, including a new Liquified Natural Gas Storage Facility in Acushnet, Massachusetts.

SEE:

• Algonquin Apologizes to Feds for Digging Up Cortlandt Wetland
• Noise Nightmare as Algonquin Pipeline Woes Lead to 24-hour Work
• Pipeline Protesters Take to Kayaks on the Hudson River

Image via Erik McGregor