The proposed Constitution Pipeline (CP) would threaten New York’s brook trout by clear-cutting 1,000 acres of forested land surrounding prime brook trout habitat. This deforestation would include permanent removal of vegetation and tree canopies on either side of 45 trout streams the pipeline would cross 84 different times.1 Because CP would require a 100-foot-wide clear-cut [...]
The Catskills is famous for its trout fishing. The brook trout is our State Fish. The proposed Constitution Pipeline (CP) would threaten New York’s trout population. According to an article from the DEC magazine Conservationist: “Even the most adaptable trout cannot survive much human interference with its environment. All trout require cool, clean water and [...]
The hilly regions of the Catskills and Southern Tier have experienced three 100-year floods in less than a decade. Scientists and lawmakers in New York, along with the NYDEC, acknowledge that the frequency of these flood events is projected to increase. Click here to download the pdf of this document (if the file does not [...]
The Constitution Pipeline (CP) would clear-cut 1,000 acres of forested land along its proposed route through four of New York’s most flood-prone counties. This would equal the loss of between 400,000 and 1.2 million trees, depending on density of the plantings. Click here to download the pdf of this document (if the file does [...]
The proposed Constitution Pipeline (CP) would permanently alter 554 waterbody banks in New York—most of them creek-, stream- and riverbanks—by clear-cutting 100-foot-wide swaths of trees and vegetation leading up to and away from 277 waterbodies. Click here to download the pdf of this document (if the file does not load to the right.) [...]
The Constitution Pipeline (CP) would require the clear-cutting of 1,000 acres of forested land, including 100-foot-wide swaths leading up to and away from delicate streamside riparian zones. Riparian zones are extremely vulnerable to erosion if not populated with trees and vegetation, whose roots act as anchors for soil and whose canopies help reduce the impact [...]
If the DEC were to approve the permits for the Constitution Pipeline, DEC would be giving a thumbs-up to clear-cutting 1,000 acres of forested land in New York. Assuming ten feet between each tree, this would mean a loss of 436,000 trees. Assuming six feet between each tree, the pipeline would take more than 1.2 [...]
CP is proposed to cross 91 wetlands and 277 streams, no commitment whatsoever has been made to use HDD in the final EIS for the project. In fact, plans by CP became worse between the draft EIS and final EIS because the few crossings where HDD had been planned have now been changed to Direct Pipe. Direct Pipe is a cheaper, inferior trenchless technique involving shallow burial and more surface disturbance.
It is the DEC’s mandate to halt “alterations that will impair waters for their best usage.”3 CP’s alteration of New York’s waterways and surrounding trees and vegetation would encourage and exacerbate flooding, putting at risk the lives of everyone along the pipeline route and downstream.
An article in the December 2014 issue of the DEC’s own magazine, Conservationist, discusses the importance of stream equilibrium, or a stream’s ability to “pass water and sediment during small and large flood events, and then regain its natural shape.” The article, which addresses learning from past floods in New York how to better handle future ones, states: “stream sections can become unstable when human activity upsets that equilibrium and alters the stream’s ability to move its water and sediment effectively. When this happens, the stream can become a source of flooding for communities located along its banks.”
