Attend the DEC’s hearings on Tuesday, February 26 at Bay Ridge Manor, 476 76th Street, Bay Ridge. Rally at 1:30 pm. First hearing session: 2 pm. Second hearing session: 6 pm.
Williams is proposing to lay a new pipeline, called the Northeast Supply Enhancement Pipeline, which would carry fracked natural gas (methane) from Pennsylvania across the Lower Bay of New York’s harbor.
Why is this pipeline a bad idea?
- It would extend New Yorkers’ dependence on fossil fuel and so contribute to the worsening of climate change.
- Construction of this pipeline would threaten human health. The seabed that would be dug up for this pipeline contains unsafe levels of toxic substances like arsenic, PCB’s, and dioxin.
- In addition to churning up toxics into the sea water, the unrelenting construction, with its noise and water turbidity, will harm marine life.
- Williams and its subsidiary Transco have a poor safety record. A leak or rupture of this pipeline would threaten shore communities, both human and non-human.
- At an estimated cost of just under a billion dollars, yet delivering to an area that has no shortage of gas, it is both unnecessary and expensive.
This underwater part of this pipeline would be laid for 23 miles along the south coast of Staten Island, past Coney Island, and ending 4 miles south of the Rockaways. Construction would require excavating a trench across the entirety of the route to bury the pipe. Williams says it plans to work on the offshore portion of this pipeline 24 hours/day, 7 days/week for over a year.