by Thaddeus Flint
A high pressure gas pipeline proposed to pass through the towns of Schodack, Nassau and Stephentown drew a large crowd of concerned residents to St. Mary’s Church in Nassau last Saturday where the group Stop NY Fracked Gas Pipeline (SNYFGP) was holding its first public meeting since the pipeline’s route shifted north from New Lebanon, Canaan and Chatham.
[private]SNYFGP co-founder Bob Connors estimated that close to 130 people were in attendance. He had only expected around 50 to show. Included in those numbers were about a dozen Town officials from Stephentown, Schodack and Nassau, as well as representatives from both NY Senator Kathleen Marchione’s and U.S. Congressman Chris Gibson’s offices. The meeting was filmed by WMHT.
The only ones who seemed to be missing from the discussion were the representatives of Kinder Morgan, the multi-billion dollar energy company that is so fervently trying to get its pipeline built from the fracking fields of Pennsylvania to the electrical plants of New England, and perhaps beyond. SNYFGP had invited 15 Kinder Morgan representatives to attend, but nobody admitted to being from the company when asked Saturday.
Maybe they were just lying low? Kinder Morgan has had meetings in the past, mostly in Massachusetts. But they prefer to hold the meetings the way they prefer to hold the meetings, which wasn’t the way this meeting was being held.
“We have a few reasons to believe that there was at least one person there from Kinder Morgan though,” wrote Connors on January 13.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), the agency that gets to make the final decision whether or not the pipeline gets built and where, “was also invited and declined to attend,” said Connors.
SNYGFP more or less began last summer at another church meeting, this one in Canaan. SNYGFP co-founder Becky Meier realized that a new pipeline proposed to come through Canaan would be under much greater pressure than the ones already passing through the Tennessee Gas Pipeline. She also learned that the gas in the pipeline could contain traces of dangerous chemicals used in the fracking process, which could, through venting or accident, leak into the surrounding environment and ground water. Meier, Connors and a host of other residents organized. Some derisively painted them as NIMBYs (Not In My Back Yard), people who are merely concerned about their own small piece of the earth with little empathy for those living on other pieces of the earth, preferably over the horizon someplace.
That proved to be incorrect.
“We got the route changed but only from our backyard to yours,” said Meier at the January 10 meeting. “This was not our intent. Now we want to pass on knowledge and experience to Rensselaer County residents.”
SNYGFP, it turns out, is actually NIABY, Not In Any Back Yard.
Those new back yards will be the yards and wood lots of residents who live along the National Grid power lines’ right of way that already cuts through lower Rensselaer County like a scar, following the north side of Route 43 from Averill Park, NY, into Hancock, MA. And that scar would most likely have to grow, too. Kinder Morgan uses the term “co-location” in describing how the power lines would share the land with the pipeline. “But ‘co-location’ is misleading,” said Meier.
SNYGFP cites studies showing interference between power lines and pipelines. They don’t sit well right next to each other. So the proposed pipeline must be off to the side with a projected 50 feet of its own right of way. “They need a new swath of land cleared and dug,” said Meier.
Another 50 feet might put that pipeline through a few peoples’ kitchens. Unfortunately none of that gas can be used in those kitchens. SNYGFP pointed out that New York isn’t getting any gas. All residents would get is a pipeline, a bigger scar across their properties, and its risks.
SNYGFP says those risks are leakage, explosion, noise and just a general ugliness that doesn’t fit in with the rural beauty of the area. A compressor station would probably have to be built somewhere near the Nassau – Schodack line, and it could be a large one. Anyone who has seen the station located at Malden Bridge knows it’s not going to look like something from a Norman Rockwell print. They are big, noisy and lit up like a federal prison. The pipes are also thinner in rural areas and thus thought to be more prone to rupture. A rupture and explosion could be devastating, as automatic shut off valves would be 10 to 12 miles apart. The only way to contain a fire would be to shut off both valves and let the gas burn off.
“The time to stop it is now,” SNYFGP member John Serio of Stephentown told those at St. Mary’s. Kinder Morgan has started the pre-filing process and already surveyed 24% of the land. However, 56% of New Yorkers have denied the company access for surveying. SNYFGP hopes that if enough residents keep Kinder Morgan from completing the survey then they won’t have enough information to apply for a Certificate of Convenience & Public Necessity from FERC in September.
“The Rensselaer County, NY, SNYFGP members are very active and motivated to succeed in their campaign to stop NED [Northeast Energy Direct project] and to invest in renewables, energy efficiency and conservation instead,” said Connors.
Kinder Morgan will hold its own meeting, which they call an Open House, at the New Lebanon High School on February 9 from 6 to 8 pm.
More information on SNYFGP can be found at www.stopnypipeline.org and on Twitter at #stopned.
More information on Kinder Morgan and the proposed pipeline can be found at www.kindermorgan.com/business/gas_pipelines/east/neenergydirect.
More information from FERC can be found at elibrary.ferc.gov/idmws/docket_search.asp, enter CP13-499 in the docket number box.[/private]