By Anne Marie Garti, Commentary
Published 9:38 pm, Sunday, December 27, 2015
Although miles ahead of the president on fracking and climate change, Gov. Andrew Cuomo should take a cue from President Barack Obama and “Keystone the Constitution.”
Cuomo’s “Keystone” is the ill-conceived “Constitution” pipeline, a 124-mile long interstate gas pipeline that would run from Pennsylvania, up through the Catskills, to a point west of Albany. If approved, developers would cut 700,000 trees and dig almost 300 trenches through mountain streams and wetlands. It would also set us back on addressing climate change.
To protect New York’s resources, the Department of Environmental Conservation told Williams and Cabot Oil & Gas, two of the companies proposing the project, to build the pipeline along existing utility corridors and to bore at least six feet under all bodies of water. In keeping with their horrendous environmental records, Williams and Cabot arrogantly brushed these requests aside, insisting that state approval didn’t matter.
But that’s wrong. Under the federal Clean Water Act, the DEC is obligated to deny approval if a project might violate state water quality standards. Williams and Cabot cannot remove trees on 35 miles of steep slopes, and trench through sensitive streams and wetlands, without degrading our water.
Cuomo should remember the devastation three extreme storms did to the region in the past 10 years: the first in late June 2006, and then Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee in late August and early September 2011. The Constitution Pipeline would only exacerbate the impacts. A pipeline through the area would create new pathways for the raging rivers that emerge during these storms, threatening destruction of more towns at the base of the mountains during the next natural disaster.
If the DEC allows this pipeline to proceed, other dangerous infrastructure projects will follow. In fact, developers just filed an application for the Northeast Energy Direct pipeline. This second pipeline would be located a mere 50 feet away from the Constitution.
The industry claims that this is a regional issue, and that gas is needed in New York City and Boston, but the pipes between Albany and these cities are already full of gas. In fact, the Massachusetts attorney general just issued a report confirming that New England does not need the gas. The report concludes that the region can meet its energy requirements in other ways.
Williams and Cabot are growing anxious and pushing for a decision, as the project may never be built if it does not start soon. Some people are suggesting the agency is taking too long and risks losing its authority if it doesn’t act soon, but that is not true. Under the Clean Water Act, the DEC has until April 2016 to decide.
For those who witnessed the recent series of floods, the right decision is obvious. The Constitution Pipeline cannot be built through the steep, forested, flood-prone Catskill Mountains and comply with the federal Clean Water Act. Cuomo has the authority to protect our precious resources, and should take a stand for the future by “Keystoning the Constitution.”
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Anne Marie Garti is a founding member of Stop the Pipeline and a volunteer attorney representing the group through the Pace Environmental Litigation Clinic.
