The Wave
Activists took to City Hall on Thursday, Jan. 24 to try to stop the building of a 23-mile long pipeline that will carry fracked gas under New York Harbor. The planned pipeline, which is being called the Northeast Supply Enhancement (NESE) Pipeline and would be constructed by Williams of Oklahoma, would run along the Staten Island coast and extend out to four miles off Rockaway.
Williams’ already existing Transco pipeline covers approximately 10,200 miles, extending from South Texas to New York City, according to their website.
A coalition of groups made up of The New York Public Interest Research Group Fund (NYPIRG,) Food & Water Watch – New York, New York Communities for Change, 350 NYC and more formed to prevent the NESE pipeline from happening. Patrick Houston, Sara Gronim, Eric Weltman and Lee Ziesche are some of the people at the helm of this campaign to prevent the NESE construction.
“To lay this pipeline, Williams must excavate a giant trench across New York harbor,” reads an excerpt from an online document published by the coalition. “The harbor seabed is contaminated by toxins like PCBs, dioxin, lead, and arsenic. These toxins will be churned up into the water and washed ashore by the tides, contaminating marine life and the shoreline.”
Williams’ perspective on the pipeline is rooted in a belief that it will provide cleaner energy and economic opportunities. “Natural gas is a critical part of New York’s energy mix and the demand for it continues to increase. The additional natural gas capacity created by the Northeast Supply Enhancement Project will support new economic projects, environmental initiatives, and continue to allow homes and buildings to convert from dirty heating oils to a cleaner source,” reads an online statement by the company.
I’m originally from Pennsylvania, so I’ve seen the dangers of fracking and the harm that it’s causing there,” said Ziesche. “People can’t drink their water, they can’t breathe their air. And in New York, we said that fracking wasn’t safe. So why would we ban fracking here, but use more fracked gas?”
7 comments:
This is the windmill pr machine at work, natural gas is clean and cheap, it is a much better solution than a bunch of offshore windmills. Gov. Cuomo wants to close the nuclear power station (Indian Point) that supplies a third of NYC's power, so what is going to replace that? Natural gas is the only answer and an offshore pipeline is a good way to go. As for windmills, there has been a lot of pr spin about windmills but what happens when a super storm (like Sandy) comes through and knocks them over? The cost of storing power generated by windmills is astronomical, which makes windmills expensive and also unreliable.
NYC's drinking water comes from upstate, and unless the currents flow to the LI and NJ beaches, who is going to be physically swimming in this water anyway? Marine life -
Okay, maybe there is some risk there. Quantify it. Get some trained ecologists to weigh in. Environmentalists need to stop throwing the kitchen sink of arguments at every cause if they want to be taken seriouly.
Sandy was barely a Cat 1 hurricane and we have the tech to easily build structures that survive Cat 5 storms
> The cost of storing power generated by windmills is astronomical,
Why is it more expensive than storing, say, the excess power we get from hydro?
When you say we have the technology to easily build structures that survive Cat 5 storms, are you referring to onshore structures? My comment refers to offshore structures - thousands of windmills in the shallow waters off NYC, LI and NJ, no?
First anon:
Williams prior history shows that deep water pipe infrastructure is not infallible.
As for P.R. spin, Exxon actually wrote an assessment paper on the effects of climate change on oil and gas mining back in the 70's and has spent millions and millions to lobby congress since then to thwart any regulations to remediate it.
And it's pretty certain that big ocean water is a big devastation causation factor during category one hurricanes as that bitch Sandy prove to us. Especially at Breezy Point, Gerristen and Manhattan Beach, Staten Island and the Jersey Shore.
http://boldalliance.org/bold-joins-180-groups-calling-on-congress-to-hold-hearings-into-ferc-abuses/
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