Westchester Says "No" to Pipeline

Shortly after 6 am Monday morning, opponents of the Algonquin/Spectra pipeline in northern Westchester blocked the construction project’s “wareyard” in Cortland, which is where the workers park and where the construction equipment is stored. Many in Westchester are unaware that Texas-based Spectra energy is building a massive 42-inch pipeline throughout northern Westchester to carry fracked gas to eastern ports for overseas export.

Since October 1st, residents of northern Westchester got a taste of eminent domain as they witnessed the destruction that accompanies the pipeline. Homes have been given up for Spectra’s private profit, Blue Mountain Reservation has hundreds of trees earmarked for clear cutting, and local police are directing traffic for Spectra’s trucks.

There was a brief traffic jam from 7-7:20 AM, but nothing compared to the traffic jams we will experience when Spectra’s crews start digging under our county and state roads.

With the exception of residents in towns such as Peekskill and Cortlandt Village, most Westchester residents are unaware that our county is part of Spectra Corporation’s Algonquin Incremental Market (AIM) pipeline. These historic towns, and the beautiful Hudson River Valley, are now “sacrifice zones” for Spectra’s personal profit.

Pipelines such as AIM are metastasizing across the US as fossil fuel companies are in a mad rush to get them set up before folks wake up to their short- and long-term dangers. These pipelines carry fracked gas, explosive methane, and are accompanied by pigging or compressor stations every 30-50 miles. These stations – which are brightly lit and emit decibels far beyond what is healthy – are intended for “blowdowns” – the venting of carcinogenic compounds. Moreover, 8-20% of the gas in these pipelines leak.

If Westchester residents can’t wrap their heads around the invisible emissions and their effects on our health and as a greenhouse gas more potent than anything previously imagined, perhaps we can understand this:

Methane is explosive. Gas pipelines built since 2010 fail at a higher rate than those built in previous years. Pipelines explode, on average, every other week, and kill someone every third week. The minimum blast zone for a 36 inch pipeline is 1,100 feet. The AIM pipeline will run within 110 feet of Indian Point Nuclear Power plant, 400 feet from the Buchanan –Verplanck school. Pipeline fires cannot be put out with firefighting techniques, so our EMS and fire departments will have to get new equipment and new training just to deal with disasters brought on by Spectra Energy.

Nuclear and pipeline experts say that a Fukushima-like core meltdown could result from a gas pipeline rupture near Indian Point. How are Westchester residents expected to prepare for both a possible nuclear meltdown and a catastrophic pipeline rupture? Do iodine pills protect from burns?

Fracking is banned in New York State, but fracked gas infrastructure is not. No one in Westchester asked for this. And if we were asked, I doubt if we’d say yes.

Not only does Spectra get the profits, use up our resources – including the Hudson River, our police, EMS, and fire departments – Spectra is not legally responsible for any damage done to personal property during construction. The gas traveling through our landscape, by our homes and schools, is mostly intended for foreign export. This locks the US into unsustainable higher home energy costs depending on foreign market prices. And as we can tell by Spectra’s lack of concern for our safety and our pocketbooks, profit is more important than our lives.

Who made this deal with Spectra anyway? Certainly not us.

County legislators have come out against this pipelines, expressing concern over safety and health. But after all the calls, all the petitions, all the hearings, Spectra continues with its deadly project. On October 20th, County Legislator Catherine Parker tweeted “Our federal agencies have failed to protect Westchester County Residents.”

When our legislators and our agencies can no longer protect us from Spectra cutting its rapacious swath through our Hudson River Valley, it requires citizen action. When I heard the news that courageous Westchester residents had put their bodies on the line, I was both surprised and proud. Surprised because protests are unusual in Westchester. Proud because this is the only recourse we have – and one that is woven into the fabric of New York State’s history.

Today’s blockade is the first wave of the use of nonviolent direct action to stop the construction of the Spectra pipeline in Westchester, other means having so far been blocked by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). Protesters in other communities – from here to Boston – are also using nonviolent direct action to stop construction.

Those who said “no” to AIM this morning also say “yes” to a future based on renewable energy, yes to jobs that don’t endanger workers (for every 480 jobs in the fossil fuel industry, there are 2,650 in the renewable energy market), yes to affordable energy for our families, and yes for keeping the historic Hudson River and its surroundings the beautiful environment it has always been.