Residents will have two chances this month to comment on a plan that would expand a natural gas pipeline running through the region, even as ultimate approval seems imminent.
The state Department of Environmental Conservation will hold public hearings in Southeast and Brewster on Jan. 21 and 22, respectively, to discuss the proposed expansion of a portion of the Algonquin Gas Transmission pipeline from 26-inch diameter pipes to 42-inch diameter pipes. The project would require modifications to compressor stations in Buchanan, Southeast and Brewster.
Susan Van Dolsen, a member of the group Stop the Algonquin Pipeline Expansion, or SAPE, said its members will focus on how emissions from the compressor stations could affect public health and air quality. The group also continues to oppose separate federal approvals and is looking for commitments from federal lawmakers to require more safety analyses before the hoped-for groundbreaking in March.
“We have a lot of things going on to try to push for that to be delayed or more studies to be done before we move forward,” she said. “We feel have a lot of issues that are still unresolved and need to be addressed.”
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, or FERC, has ultimate approval of the expansion. FERC issued a draft environmental impact statement in August 2013 that was favorable to Texas-based Spectra Energy Partners LP, which owns the pipeline. The company said expanding the pipeline, which runs through New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island, would address energy needs in the Northeast.
“The (Algonquin) project is the most immediate solution for the region and would have an immediate impact on prices,” Marylee Hanley, Spectra”™s director of stakeholder outreach, said in a recent interview. She also said the existing pipeline has been operated for 60 years without incident. FERC is expected to file a final environmental impact statement in the coming weeks, unless the agency heeds the concerns of opposition groups that want more studies conducted.
The expansion would include the construction of 37.4 miles of pipeline from Rockland County through Westchester and Putnam into Connecticut. Seventy-nine percent of the proposed route of the pipeline would be within or near existing rights of way properties, according to the company”™s applications with the DEC.
The New York stretch of the expansion will include 15.7 miles of replacement pipes and 2.9 miles of new pipes that will cross under the Hudson River for slightly less than 1 mile. Opposition groups have said the expanded capacity poses an environmental and safety threat. The pipeline runs near Indian Point Energy Center, the Buchanan nuclear power facility.
Despite the plant”™s owner, Entergy Corp., and the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission”™s stance that the expansion would not pose an increased safety risk, a November report by the Redmond, Wash.-based Accufacts Inc. called the analysis of risks “deficient.”
Accufacts was retained by the town of Cortlandt, where Spectra is planning to run new pipes through the area and Westchester County-owned parkland.
“While Accufacts can appreciate attempts to keep certain information of such an important safety analysis somewhat secret,” the report states, “much more detailed effort is needed to assure the public that prudent and complete safety analysis efforts have been performed in choosing possible pipeline options in this location.”
The state is considering permits due to wetlands disturbances for the project and for the work to the compressor stations. Groups like SAPE are hoping New York”™s recent ban of hydraulic fracturing shows the state will be receptive to considering potential safety and health effects. In the meantime, the group is prepared to host rallies and protests to bolster the movement to delay or stop the federal permits as well.
The Jan. 21 public hearing will be at the Brewster Central School Performing Arts Center, 50 Foggintown Road, and the Jan. 22 hearing will be held at the Stony Point Community Center, 5 Clubhouse Lane. Both hearings will begin at 6 p.m. Those wishing to comment can submit written comments to the DEC after the hearings, until Feb. 13.
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