Urge Cuomo to Deny Pilgrim Pipeline Holdings’ Use of the Thruway Right of Way
- When:
- March 1, 2016 to March 4, 2016
- Where:
- Call now: 518-474-8390
Dangerous Bakken shale crude oil could be transported alongside the New York State Thruway, but Governor Cuomo can deny Pilgrim Pipeline’s use of the Thruway’s right of way and can stop this project. Please urge him to deny their request. Now!
Pilgrim Pipeline Holdings, LLC, is trying to build the first pipelines to transport volatile fracked Bakken shale oil and possibly tar sands crude oils through New York State. And Pilgrim wants to use the New York State Thruway right-of-way to build them! These twin pipelines would carry fracked Bakken and possibly Canadian heavy crude from Albany, NY, to Linden, NJ, and flammable refined products back from Linden to Albany.
The pipelines would be drilled under and through 232 waterways. New pipelines fail at a higher rate than older ones. The proposed Pilgrim pipelines would threaten our communities’ public health, safety, and water – including millions of people’s drinking water.
Governor Cuomo committed to moving New York to a renewable energy future, to cutting our emissions by 80% by 2050, and to investing in a climate-resilient future. Pilgrim’s pipelines directly conflict with this vision of New York: they would worsen climate change, increase emissions, and lock us into a dangerously fossil-fuel-reliant future.
Call Governor Cuomo now and urge him to deny Pilgrim’s use of the New York Thruway Authority’s right of way.
Call now: 518-474-8390
Use this script as a guide
“Governor Cuomo, you have pledged to be a climate leader. I urge you to deny Pilgrim Pipeline Holdings’ use of the New York State Thruway Authority right of way to construct its proposed pipelines. They would be the first pipelines to transport dangerous fracked Bakken Shale and possibly Canadian heavy crude oils in New York, threatening our communities’ public health, safety, and water.
Governor Cuomo, protect New York and New Yorkers: stand with all the communities along the proposed pipelines’ route that oppose this project and deny Pilgrim’s use of the right of way!”
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Still want more background before making that call? More basics:
These two proposed pipelines, plus 5 laterals, 4 pump stations, over 100 new access roads (35 of them permanent), and 7 construction zones, would put drinking water for millions at risk, while harming climate, land, public health and safety. Two hundred and thirty-two (232) waterways would be drilled under or through, including the Hudson River, Catskill Creek, Coeyman/Hannacroix Creek Complex, the Rondout, Wallkill, Moodna, Esopus, Ramapo, and other streams. Pilgrim pipelines should be strongly rejected.
Between 2004 and 2012, pipelines spilled three times as much oil as oil trains, according to the International Energy Agency.
The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) issued a safety alert on Jan. 2, 2014 regarding the volatility of Bakken crude oil. According to PHMSA data, pipeline operators reported 1,880 crude oil pipeline incidents nationwide between 2003 and 2013 resulting in over 44 million gallons of oil being spilled, fouling groundwater, surface water bodies, farmland and woodland, and resulting in over $2.5 billion in property damage. In only 5% of all cases were spills detected by leak detection equipment.
These pipelines would not replace rail and barge transport of crude oil in New York. Instead, they could increase “bomb train” traffic into Albany and increase the flow of crude oil in the state to refineries and export terminals in New Jersey for production and export. Such a long-term investment in fossil fuel infrastructure directly conflicts with New York State’s goal of reducing carbon emissions by 80% by 2050 to reduce the threat of the climate crisis to present and future generations.
Further background: the one-hour “Pilgrim Pipelines 101 Webinar” is authoritative, excellent, and provides a wealth of information. The two speakers are Kate Hudson and Jen Metzger. Here it is on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/embed/qVBnLy5FoA8
Please make sure to make that call today and to convince at least one person per day to make that call every day this week:
GOVERNOR CUOMO’S OFFICE- 518-474-8390
(Downstate office, if you like, is: 212-681-4580)
Watch our webinar from January 21, 2016.
View or download slides
