Fight against Algonquin pipeline expansion reaches 11th hour
A meme posted to the Facebook page of a local activist group shows Homer Simpson with his hands to his head and his eyes wide as he looks down at the controls of a nuclear power plant. “D”™oh!” the meme says up top. Below, it continues, “Indian Point & Spectra AIM Project ”” What could go wrong.”
Members of the group Stop the Algonquin Pipeline Expansion, or SAPE, are continuing their push to stop the expansion of a natural gas pipeline that runs through the region despite lopsided odds and a clock ticking down to federal approval that may reach its end as soon as this month.
The Algonquin Gas Transmission pipeline, owned by Spectra Energy Partners LP, runs near Indian Point Energy Center in Buchanan, where two nuclear reactors operate. Although the plant”™s owner, Entergy Corp., and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said expanding portions of the pipeline from 26 inches to 42 inches in diameter wouldn”™t pose an increased safety risk, SAPE isn”™t convinced.
The group points to a Nov. 3 report by Richard B. Kuprewicz, president of the Redmond, Wash.-based Accufacts Inc., which called the safety evaluation and analysis of the risks to the nuclear generators “seriously deficient and inadequate.”
Accufacts was retained by the town of Cortlandt, where Spectra is planning to run new pipes through the area and county-owned parkland. Kuprewicz”™s report has become a rallying cry asking that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, or FERC, which has approval authority over the expansion, to require further studies before making a decision.
“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.”
Kuprewicz also called the project “oversized” and “overbuilt,” saying in the report that the operator “appears to be positioning for further expansions on the Algonquin system” and that future expansions should be considered in any project impact reviews.
State Assemblywoman Sandy Galef, a Democrat who represents parts of northern Westchester as well as Putnam, cited the study in a letter to FERC asking for further review and studies. SAPE members have been organizing daily calls and periodic meetings with local, state and federal elected officials to rally to delay FERC approval and ask for more studies. Several group organizers met with the staff of U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer and stated their concerns. A call to Schumer”™s office wasn”™t returned as of press time.
If divine intervention is needed to stop the project, even the pastor of St. Patrick”™s Church in Verplanck has gotten involved. In a Nov. 18 letter to FERC posted on the SAPE Facebook site, the Rev. George N. Oonnoonny claimed that Spectra intentionally made errors in describing how the expansion would affect the church.
“How is it reasonable to consider that the parishioners of St. Patrick”™s will be able to get to church, park, allowed to worship and observe other religious activities while the construction, with its related noise, is in progress?” he asked.
Oonnoonny said Spectra had said in its filings that it had a formal meeting with church officials in September when it hadn”™t and he noted that although Spectra said it would not schedule construction during Saturday and Sunday mass, it didn”™t not take other ceremonies and activities, including weddings, into account.
Spectra spokeswoman Marylee Hanley said in a phone message that the existing pipelines have operated “without incident” and were installed prior to the construction of Indian Point in the 1960s.
“The Algonquin pipeline system has been operating in the area for more than 60 years,” she said.