"VERPLANCK 11" Who Blocked Pipeline Construction Due in Court

The 11 ‪ResistAIM protesters arrested in Verplanck Feb. 29 who blocked access to the horizontal drilling site and staging area for Spectra’s AIM pipeline project are being arraigned March 18, after a week's postponement by the Cortlandt town court.

They were charged with disorderly conduct.

Spectra Energy is building the Algonquin Incremental Market project to expand segments of its high-pressure methane gas pipeline, from New Jersey through Rockland, Westchester and Putnam counties to New England. It is the first of three projects that will each expand more segments of the pipeline. Atlantic Bridge and Access Northeast are in various stages of planning and approval.

Opponents of the pipeline project said the arrest of the “Verplanck 11” brings the total of arrests in different states along the proposed pipeline’s route to 88.

"We will keep resisting Spectra’s attempts to destroy our Hudson River, our climate, our communities and our property," ‪#‎ResistAIM representatives said in a press release.

RELATED:

• Pipeline Project Making Progress Under the Hudson
• FERC Rejects Pipeline Foes’ Requests to Halt, Reopen Hearings into AIM
• Arrests as Protesters Block Pipeline Staging Area

The arrests came on the same day that Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced he was directing his administration to commence an immediate independent safety analysis of the natural gas pipeline project given its proximity to Indian Point.

Cuomo has charged three state agencies (DEC, DOH and Homeland Security) to investigate the siting of Spectra’s AIM pipeline near the nuclear power plant and has called for a halt to pipeline construction in a letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).

Construction has started on the first phase of the pipeline expansion, based at staging areas in Cortlandt. It has been almost a year since the AIM project was approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. FERC and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission rejected arguments from experts and opponents that the pipeline would cause a threat to the plant.

PHOTO: ResistAIM Facebook page