U.S. Sens. Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand want federal regulators to suspend construction on a natural gas pipeline that will run through the Hudson Valley and Connecticut.
New York’s two senators, both Democrats, asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to halt construction on the Algonquin Incremental Market project, a natural gas pipeline proposed by Spectra Energy Partners LP that received federal approval last year.
The $971.6 million pipeline project would expand and replace parts of an existing natural gas pipeline in four states””New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts””to carry additional natural gas north from Pennsylvania”™s Marcellus Shale. The largest amount of work would happen on about 20 miles of the line through Rockland, Westchester and Putnam counties in New York and Fairfield County in Connecticut.
Schumer and Gillibrand want “independent health and safety reviews” of the project before construction continues, though the joint statement from the senators does not specify what that would entail.
Schumer cited concerns with the pipelines proximity to the Indian Point Energy Center in Buchanan, a nuclear plant currently undergoing a federal relicensing process for its two reactors. The pipeline runs about a half-mile from Indian Point at its closest point.
Schumer said the project presents threats to the “quality of life, environmental, health and safety of residents across the Hudson Valley and New York State without any long-term benefit to the communities it would impact.”
“It presents even more safety concerns given its proximity to Indian Point,” Schumer continued. “For these reasons I oppose it, and that is why I strongly urge FERC to cease all work until a thorough, independent review of all of the project’s potential health and environmental impacts is completed and made available to the public.”
Gillibrand said she was “very concerned” with the project.
“We need to make sure that whenever a project like this goes forward, the benefits outweigh the risks to our health, our safety, and our environment,” Gillibrand said. “I am not convinced those benefits exist with this project, and I hope FERC listens to the concerns of all parties involved.”
The project has been controversial since it was first proposed, receiving opposition from environmental and grassroots organizations and, more recently, Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
A coalition of 22 environmental and grassroots group, including four from New York, filed an appeal in federal court in March asking the court to review the FERC’s approval of the project.
In February, Cuomo asked the FERC to stay its approval on the project so that the state could complete an independent review to determine whether the pipeline or its construction could impact operations at Indian Point. A month later, the FERC denied the request, saying it found “nothing in the New York DEC”™s current pleading that calls our findings regarding the safety”¦ in the vicinity of the Indian Point facility into question.”
The final environmental impact statement the FERC approved for the project relied in part on a site hazards analysis from Entergy Corp, the operators of Indian Point. The Entergy report found the pipeline “posed no increased risks” to Indian Point.
Following the statement from Sens. Schumer and Gillibrand, Entergy spokesperson Jerry Nappi reiterated the findings from the project’s initial approval.
“Multiple comprehensive technical analyses have been performed by engineering experts who determined there is no potential impact to Indian Point from a pipeline rupture, and the information has been accepted and approved by a federal agency with expertise in the matter,” Nappi said in a statement.
This is the second time New York’s senators have teamed up to express concerns about the Algonquin project. Last year, Schumer and Gillibrand urged the FERC to consider concerns of residents before approving the project.
Protests against the pipeline project were held in Peekskill onMay 21, ending in arrests.
Marylee Hanley, director of stakeholder outreach for Spectra, said in an email that the FERC confirmed the certification in gave the project in 2015 in hearings earlier this year.
“Algonquin resumed construction in April and will continue with its construction, in accordance with the FERC certificate,” Hanley said, “to meet the project”™s critical construction time frames and safely transport additional supplies of clean, reliable, domestic natural gas to heat the region”™s homes and businesses beginning in November of this year.”
So Governor Cuomo opposed this project? Where is there proof of that? And Gillibrand is not convinced that there are benefits from this project that outweigh the risks? Very interesting. Who is actually charged with making that determination, which has already been made, as it isn’t Gillbrand. Neither Senator has any role in the permitting or siting really of this pipeline do they? The only interstate pipeline project in NY state that Schumer and Gillibrand had to actually act on was the Rockaway pipeline where Congress was required to act in order to give the National Park Service the authority to issue permits for a pipeline right of way and lease in gateway national recreation area.