submitted By Bill Trusiewicz
Said to have been the most well attended meeting ever held in Stephentown, the Fireman’s Hall was filled with 180 folks Thursday night (February 5), many of whom voiced their distress and anger at the proposed Kinder-Morgan/Tennessee-Gas high-pressure fracked gas pipeline slated to pass through their properties and their towns. [private]The large parking area of the Fireman’s Hall was filled to overflowing with cars parked as far as the Stephentown Town Hall. People came from Hancock and Richmond, Massachusetts as well as Averill Park, Castleton, Cherry Plain, Nassau, Schodack, and
Stephentown, New York to voice their opposition to the proposed pipeline that will carry Pennsylvania fracked gas and pass through New York State from Wright through Rensselaer County, where it will follow electrical power lines that traverse Schodack, Nassau and Stephentown, then on through part of Massachusetts, New Hampshire and back to Dracut, Massachusetts. From there, most of the gas will be transported to Canada, likely for export to yet other countries. Those assembled want to prevent construction of the pipeline. There to hear their concerns were three Stephentown Board Members and representatives of N.Y. Senator Kathy Marchione and U.S. Congressman Chris Gibson, along with Andrew White, vice-chair of the Rensselaer County Democratic Committee.
Organized by SNYFGP (Stop NY Fracked Gas Pipeline), the meeting was aimed at hearing the concerns of and educating citizens from the Rensselaer County towns of Schodack, Nassau, and Stephentown. And the concerns were many. One resident of a housing development in Schodack expressed grave concern for twenty households in his neighborhood that each have at least two children and that will be impacted by the proximity of the pipeline and associated compressor station and may be within the “incineration zone”—the area along the pipeline, within which life and property would be incinerated if an explosion were to occur. When asked what he thinks about the pipeline, meeting participant Jack Spillman, who is an abutter from Stephentown said: “It gets worse and worse the more you hear; there are so many down sides to this it boggles your mind. It’s no wonder people are so angry and have so much anxiety about it.”
The Houston Texas based gas and oil infrastructure giant Kinder Morgan wants to run a 36 inch, high-pressure (1,460 pounds per square inch) pipeline that would deliver gas from Wright, NY to Dracut, MA. The project, called Northeast Energy Direct (NED), will not benefit local residents, but is believed to threaten nearby property owners. Concerns voiced at the meeting included property rights, the “incineration zone,” declining property values, property salability, the possibility of catastrophic ruptures, increases in home owners’ insurance premiums, contamination of well water, air and soil. A representative from the 500 member Nassau Sportsman’s Club voiced strong opposition to the proposed pipeline that will cut through their land including through their fish-stocked pond if it is approved. Especially in light of last month in which four gas pipeline related accidents were reported across the country, residents of Schodack, Nassau, and Stephentown were decidedly troubled and wanted to know what they can do to prevent it.
This is what the featured presenter, Thom Pecoraro, a Stephentown property owner whose land abuts the proposed pipeline route, focused on in his 30-minute PowerPoint presentation. Facilitated by John Serio as MC, who fielded numerous questions from the audience before and after the presentation, Mr. Pecoraro’s recommendations were: to deny the pipeline company access to private property to survey; register specific fact-based reasons for opposing the pipeline with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the agency authorized to approve or disapprove the pipeline; urge elected officials at the local, county, state, and federal levels to take action against the pipeline; educate others about the pipeline’s dangers and health risks; write National Grid and urge it not to conclude any agreement with Kinder Morgan by which the latter could lease, buy or otherwise use the National Grid corridor for the pipeline; attend the pipeline company’s Open Houses and provide an alternative perspective on the pipeline to those in attendance.
Kinder Morgan has filed for a “certificate of public convenience and necessity,” which if approved, allows it to take possession of private lands for its use, purportedly because of a deficit of natural gas in New England. The supposed “need” is limited to four hours a day during two weeks of peak use per year. Those at this meeting felt that there must be better alternatives – ones that might provide permanent local jobs and won’t jeopardize our safety, health, and environment?
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