Stop the Minisink Compressor Station
After undeniably great sacrifices for their country, an upstate community of 9/11 First Responders, veterans, their widows, and men and women who’ve recently returned from military duty are now finding their wellbeing compromised at the hands of Governor Cuomo’s gas agenda.
A compressor station, commissioned by the Millennium Pipeline and fast-tracked by the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and FERC (Federal Energy Regulatory Commission), is slated to go up in the middle of a residential community in Minisink, NY, posing both environmental and health risks due to the high quantity of toxic emissions from this type of facility.
A large gas infrastructure is being laid throughout New York State including new pipelines, compressor stations and gas-fired power plants although approval for “hydrofracking” is still yet to be determined. Minisink is at the front line battle for New York, putting our 9/11 heroes’ already compromised health from Ground Zero at greater risk.
When residents first learned of plans to build the facility by Millennium Pipeline, a company owned by NiSource, they turned to their elected government officials for help. Ironically those same officials who invoke the memory of 9/11 every September, ignored their pleas for intervention. “As a first responder of 9/11, I have to strongly argue against the gas compressor in Minisink. Many of my colleagues are suffering and some have died as a result of the toxins in the air we were exposed to at ground zero,” said John Odland, a Minisink resident.
Millennium Pipeline predicts that at full capacity the station would release 61,000 tons of pollutants into the air each year, including many known carcinogens, as turbines process and compress natural gas into pipelines for faster, more profitable delivery. Millennium does not deny these pollutants, which in addition to contaminating the air will seep into the soil and the regional watershed.
Vincent Pedre, MD, a NYC integrative physician that worked in the World Trade Center Screening Program for exposed workers at Mount Sinai Medical Center, said, “These First Responders have already faced severe exposures as part of their work. A new exposure like this is surely to lead to further respiratory complications, as well as affect their skin, stomach, nervous system, immune system and delicate hormone balance, possibly leading to cancer and an increased risk for autism in this region.”
Alternative plans do exist and have been documented. The alternative location is in an industrial area that once housed a compressor station that is currently inactive. Joseph Shields, president of Millennium, when asked why they are forcing the issue to place the compressor station in a residentially zoned area, he simply stated, “It’s about economics.”
The residents believe this is an outright lie since the alternative location is known to be the most cost effective and cause less environmental degradation, and is several miles from a residential area. Despite having a clear alternative location three out of five members of FERC voted yes to having the project move forward at the proposed Minisink location, setting an official precedent to ignore community harm.
For a few generations now, Westtown near Minisink, NY has been a haven for many commuting and retired NYC Police and Firefighters, so much so that it’s earned the local nickname, “Guns & Hoses.” Many of these individuals moved to the rural area just over an hour from NYC after the 9/11 tragedy to help them recover from respiratory and other illnesses they developed as a result of their service during 9/11.
There are approximately 190 homes within a half mile from the site of the proposed compressor station. “My family and I will be forced to walk away from our home and lose our life savings. My children will be left with nothing. Not to mention I have suffered a lung related injury that was directly related to the pollutants of 9/11,” said Rob Coppola, a former NYC fireman, and 9/11 First Responder. “I’m not going to tell my children that thing is safe as the city told us ten years ago as we breathed in extremely harmful toxins.”
The gas compressor station has already received permits for construction from FERC as well as from the NY DEC, and is being justified under the pretext of increasing gas supplies to NYC—the same city, that many of these residents spent decades risking their lives for. However the driving force behind the project is Governor Cuomo’s plan to open New York to the controversial process of hydraulic fracturing, including a plan to build a new gas-fueled power plant in a nearby town by Con-Edison.
John Feal, founder and president of the FealGood Foundation says “Eleven years ago thousands of First Responders were told by authorities that the air at the World Trade Center Site was safe to breathe. Today, we know this statement was untrue and placed a higher importance on economics than human life.”
The compressor station also poses serious safety issues, as evidenced by an explosive fire at an Artemas, PA, compressor station, which destroyed buildings, vehicles and 24 acres of land. The compressor that exploded is owned by NiSource and managed by Columbia Gas. The explosion could be felt from several miles away. Firefighters from five other counties were needed to contain the fire from the blast.
Robin Freunds said “My property in Westtown, New York directly butts up to the proposed site of the Minisink Compressor Project. I have lived in Westtown for 25 years. My husband gave his life on Sept. 11, 2001 as a New York City Fire Officer. The emotional toll this project has taken upon my family is great. I fear for my health, the health of my animals and community safety.”
There is only a small corps of volunteer firefighters in Minisink and no system in place to alert residents to evacuate, and the nearest burn unit is 60 miles away in Westchester, NY. George Racz, a local resident and NYC firefighter said, “We respond to fires on a daily basis in the city. I have been to several gas emergencies. I honestly can say I don’t know what my family’s chances of survival are if this compressor station were to explode.“
The residents continue to face an uphill battle against powerful forces but they are determined to win. Nick Russo said, “I am fighting for everything I ever worked for because some giant guru gas company [Millennium] is looking to destroy it.” The townspeople have hired an attorney in Washington D.C. and are preparing to take FERC to federal court this month.
Visit EcoWatch’s FRACKING page for more related news on this topic.
Government must care more about the health of the people and the environment than it does for its “friendships” with the oil, gas and nuclear companies.
With any gas project , there is a potential for extreme danger. People in Texas and Pa have told me personally that the venting from the compressor stations has caused nose bleeds in their children when playing in their yards. This happens within 10 minutes. Both families have moved from the area. Government does NOT have a right to inject poisons into peoples homes, nor do they have a right to sell permits to private industry to do the same. Hydraulic Fracturing is an unsafe practice. The well pipe will be eaten by the brine. the drillers will be gone and you will be drinking the toxic soup, and paying for the cleanup.
I was just in North Eastern China, a place with horrifying air, almost every day of the 3 weeks I was there. Sometimes, it was hard to see across the street. You didn’t see old people walking-a high percentage must be suffering with lung ailments. Many people wear masks, taped to their faces. Patterned ones are a fashion accessory. The air here can also get that bad, if we don’t make use of our democracy to force our government to protect us from the financial predators operating these gas companies. If you read the December Forbes magazine feature about Aubrey McClendon, CEO of Chesapeake, you know that he has sold the debt for gas infrastructure construction to China. Thinking that this company is domestic, and that it will sell gas cheaply to the states in the NE (of the US) is silly. It’s an offshore company, will be selling on the international market, and it won’t be possible to hold it accountable for the destruction it has planned for our environment, our public health, our roads, our water, and our political system. If he gave 26 million to the Sierra Club, which is a matter of public record, think how much he may have promised to Cuomo, to support his probable presidential run in 2016? Wish someone could unearth that figure! How much longer do you think he’s going to maintain a real presence in Oklahoma City? Until the air gets bad?
Thank you and keep up the good work. Please take a stand on this one.
fyi: Another video short on the historic, amazing Lain family shown here in your piece:
http://vimeo.com/13896309
I am sooo sorry they are doing that to you. The emmissions from the stations here in Arkansas are horrendous. Looking from my back porch to the NE about 5 miles I see the black grey haze hang over those residents daily at the site the smell is unreal and I get a headache and start itching all over in about 15 minutes. If you have been exposed to chems your tolerance is even more sensitive. So May God bless yall it will most definetly cause unjust health effects, but know they will make millions from your demise.