by Thaddeus Flint
As a potential decision looms on Northeast Energy Direct project, the high pressure gas pipeline that would run through parts of Schodack, Nassau, and Stephentown on its way east, US Congressman Chris Gibson has voiced “significant concerns” with the project, saying “I do not support the proposal in its current form.”
[private] Gibson’s comments come in a letter to the Chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Norman Bay, on the eve of FERC hearings on the project in Castleton-On-Hudson, last Tuesday, June 14.
“Based on my many conversations with concerned residents…my reservations focus on public safety and potential environmental and economic impacts,” wrote Gibson. While agreeing that improvements to NY infrastructure were “vital”, the Congressman voiced his concerns about Kinder Morgan, the company responsible for the project, saying “Kinder Morgan has not provided adequate information about its plan.”
Gibson is certainly not the first to question the transparency of Kinder Morgan. Opposition and environmental groups have been doing that since before the project even had a name here. However Gibson’s concerns will certainly be the loudest heard by those responsible for deciding if the project will continue in its planned form. Gibson’s letter also included copies of Resolutions approved by the Town of Sand Lake, Stephentown, the Village of East Nassau, the Town of Nassau, and the Town of Schodack voicing opposition to the project that would cut across those towns. State Senator Kathleen Marchione, also in a letter to the FERC Chair, said that, “as evidenced by four local resolutions,” there is significant “strong and growing opposition to this proposed pipeline” and she could not “support the project as proposed.”
“Our community should not bear the burden of the project, take on all the risks, and not benefit from the construction and placement of the pipeline,” Gibson wrote. “The current proposal will not provide a long term benefit to these communities.”[/private]