Take Action

New York Heat Rally and Lobby Day!

Help us support the NY HEAT Act to ensure that it gets passed in this upcoming legislative session. Renewable Heat Now is a partnership of organizations across NY, including Sierra Club, working for passage of crucial climate legislation to decarbonization NY’s homes and buildings. This year, RHN is working on passage of the NY HEAT Act.
 
We are looking to boost Sierra Club participation at the January 23 Albany Rally and Lobby Day.  You can register here for the Jan 23rd NY HEAT Act Rally and Lobby Day in Albany.
 

Other actions and activities that you can take:

 
Sign Pass NY HEAT online postcards to Governor Hochul through January 9. 
 
Register for the January 18 RHN and Friends Zoom Power Hour (to get all the updates about the Jan 23rd NY HEAT Albany Rally & Lobby Day)

 

Showing Up DOES Make an Impact!

On Feb 22, 2023, your Mid-Hudson Sierra Club group joined with several other environmental organizations to participate in a rally to oppose the Iroquois ExC project. The action was held on the front lawn of the DEC Region 3 headquarters in New Paltz.

ExC intends to ship more methane (doubling the pressure in the line) through an aging pipeline to Long Island and NYC by building out compressor stations in Athens and Dover, NY. The dangers and health burdens to the already disadvantaged communities at Dover and Athens that this project would impose are many, along with all the terrible consequences of deepening the climate crisis due to methane leaks and fossil fuel burning this project would allow.

Moreover, efficiency measures and gas-restriction rules in NYC will likely make this project unnecessary. Over 3,300 comments on the project were delivered to the DEC at the event. Many young people joined in this lively citizens’ action, as well as participants from Food and Water Watch, NY Public Interest Group, Sane Energy, NY Lawyers in the Public Interest, Mothers Out Front, and Concerned Citizens of Dover.

Mary Finneran, another Sierra Club member, was a key organizer and addressed the engaged crowd on the dangers involved and fallacies espoused by the fossil fuel companies' proposal (see article below). Nivo Rovedo was also privileged to speak against the project.

The following images were taken by Sarah Kennedy, a MHSC Executive Committee member who attended along with fellow ExCom members Lalita Malik and Nivo Rovedo.

Stop the Iroquois Pipeline rally

 

Stop the Iroquois Pipeline rally

 

Stop the Iroquois Pipeline rally

 

ExC Iroquois Methane Pipeline - Expansion by Compression

(from a presentation by Mary Finneran)

The Iroquois Expansion by Compression Project (ExC), proposed by National Grid (and Con Ed), seeks to pump more fracked gas into NYC. When another proposed pipeline, the Williams Pipeline, was defeated, gas companies threatened to be forced to turn heat off to the metropolitan area from a lack of delivery capability. Governor Cuomo demanded that utility companies find alternative ways to provide heat to new customers; this was the alternate proposal -- push more gas through an existing pipeline by raising the pressure. It involves augmenting the pumping substations in Athens, NY and Dover, NY. This methane would flow eventually through Connecticut, Long Island, and into Manhattan.

ExC pipeline

Very high view of the overall connection of multiple methane lines, with ExC area in lower right region

ExC pipeline

Zoomed-in view of the ExC region, showing Dover and Athens

ExC pipeline

Arial view in Dover region. Note the proximity to Cricket Valley energy (CVE) , a recently constructed gas-fired power plant: much less than a mile by the way the crow flies is the Dover Iroquois compressor station, which would be expanded from 18,000 to 30,000 hp. if the Iroquois EXC gets approved. Although CVE did NOT sign on to the expansion, they do get their gas from Iroquois.

ExC pipeline

In Dover region, local municipal and environmental concern: note the wetlands, the Great Swamp (one of the largest wetlands in the Northeast), the school, and the train tracks line running through woods directly east of the Dover Compressor Station

ExC pipeline

In Athens region. Hazard: note Athens Gen within ¼ mile of the compressor station (after a Connecticut explosion due to proximity of power plant and compressor station, this was no longer allowed, but grandfathered in Athens).

ExC pipeline

Of note also is all the various infrastructure within ½ mile of the Athens Iroquois Compressor Station. Clockwise from upper left: Central Hudson Natural Gas regulating station, Peckham asphalt melting plant, note gas lines, Amerigas storage facility, and Conrail train tracks, North East Treaters, Lumber treating company with multiple chemical and kilns. Center: a Niagara Mohawk electrical generating station.

ExC pipeline

From Iroquis Gas : Athens Compressor Station would increase from 10.000 to 22,000 hp, Dover Compressor Station would increase from 18,000 to 30,000, Brookfield Compressor Station would increase from 18,000 to 42,000 hp!!! Very large increases!

ExC pipeline

What Iroquois claims are the benefits.

Here is the rebuttal to all those claims.

Iroquois says: Supply will alleviate need for gas moratoriums.
Truth: There will be no threat of moratoriums. When the Williams Pipeline Project was halted, National Grid and Con Ed threatened people with shutting off the heat. Cuomo then forced the two utilities to find other options to get more heat to downstate NY. Backstory: In order to create political pressure on Cuomo to approve the Williams pipeline, which would have helped National Grid lock in gas use and profits for decades, they faked a gas shortage and denied new gas hookups to thousands of ratepayers and small businesses. But thanks to activist pressure, Cuomo called National Grid's bluff, demanded that they lift the moratorium, and fined them $36 million.

Iroquois says: EXC facilitates conversion from oil heat to gas heat while supplying new construction with natural gas instead of #2 fuel oil.
Truth: Utility companies are stopping the promotion of conversions to natural gas for heat and stoves and instead pushing for heat pumps and electrical appliances (which will ultimately use renewable energy). Natural Gas (methane) produces over 86 times more Green House Gas (GHG) than fuel oil (CO2).

Iroquois says: EXC provides additional capacity with no new pipeline.
Truth: The Iroquois pipeline is over thirty years old. Increasing capacity would increase pipeline leakage and potential for breaches and worse.

Iroquois says: Reduction in life cycle GHG and air pollution.
Truth: Increasing methane pressure and flow, regardless of any measures to reduce emissions at the source, will increase greenhouse gas (GHG) and air pollution. At any/every point, from the source to the end destination (homes in NYC and LI), pollution risks increase. The pipeline will leak, the compressor stations will leak, and properties using the gas will leak, all creating additional GHG emissions. This is counter to the need to stop climate chaos! The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, FERC, actually confirms that this project WILL increase GHG. Methane is some 80 times worse as a GHG in the shorter term than CO2.

Iroquois says: Increased property taxes for host communities.
Truth: Tax increase wouldn’t happen as the compressor station footprint wouldn’t change (according to FERC).
Iroquois says: Construction jobs and boost to local economy during construction.
Truth: Workers will likely be from out of state, few local hires; boost to Athens/local economy would be very small and short term.

CONCLUSION: AS WE SEE CLIMATE CHAOS ALL AROUND US, WE MUST DEMAND MORE ENERGY EFFICIENCY AND RAPID DEVELOPMENT OF RENEWABLE ENERGY!!!

Health Impacts and Dangers negate any possible benefits.

---------------------------------------------

Potential Dangers and Health Impacts of Compressor Stations
• All pipeline infrastructure including compressor stations is an accident waiting to happen. Add a spark to a two-minute compressor station gas leak and within two seconds an explosion would cause second degree burns to death to those nearby. Read an article.
• Over the past five years, “The US has experienced one major compressor station or pipeline explosion every year. ” Matt Bevins, Chair, Greater Boston Chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility .
• Increased Risk of Disease from Compressor Station emissions: Expansion of the station could cause the release of increased amounts of NO2, CO, volatile organic compounds, formaldehyde, and particulate matter into the air. Exposure to these chemicals can cause respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, neurological, immunological diseases, and developmental disorders and cancer.
• “In our opinion, the routine emissions surrounding the operation of natural gas compressor stations in New York State (NYS) increase the risk for most major categories of human disease in the state but especially in the communities where they are sited.” Drs. Russo and Carpenter, Institute for Health & the Environment, Rensselaer NY.

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Help Stop the Steel & Concrete Fabrication Plant next to the Bluestone Wild Forest, Onteora Lake and Pickerel Pond!


We have made a lot of progress, but the battle continues.

The orange area in the map below is the development site.

Onteora Lake - Bluestone Wild Forest development map

A Recent Victory Achieved for the Bluestone Wild Forest has slowed the development, but not stopped it. We need your help to keep up the momentum.

Since June of 2019, the Mid-Hudson Group Sierra Club has been fighting a proposed concrete slab and steel manufacturing plant which threatens the quiet tranquility, wilderness character, and wildlife which inhabit the Bluestone Wild Forest, the easternmost unit of the Catskill Forest Preserve. Plans for the site, at 850 Route 28, within ¼ mile of Onteora Lake, are before the Planning Board of the Town of Kingston, a small town of fewer than 1,000 people surrounded by the towns of Hurley, Ulster, and Woodstock.

The Planning Board had initially given a green light to this project, which will involve blasting, rock crushing, and heavy truck traffic in the midst of the Bluestone Wild Forest, which almost totally surrounds it. However, after more than two years of activism from the Sierra Club, Catskill Mountainkeeper, the Woodstock Land Conservancy, Friends of Bluestone Wild Forest, and other groups and individuals, the Planning Board finally issued a Positive Declaration for the project on July 19, 2021. This means that the Planning Board recognizes that the project may have significant adverse impacts and the developer must file an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and undergo a comprehensive review under the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA).

The Sierra Club’s involvement has consisted of personal advocacy, letter writing, attending meetings, helping with expenses, and funding a legal study on the importance of considering, under SEQRA, how a particular project may affect the character of a community. It was shortly after this Community Character Study (one of several) was submitted that the Planning Board issued its Positive Declaration.

Illegal Activities Continue

The developer (Thomas Auringer, dba 850 Route 28, LLC) reportedly has committed to submitting an EIS, but, nearly a year later, has not yet filed even the initial scoping document. In the meantime, however, he has been clearing the land and storing a great deal of heavy equipment and construction materials on the site, which is not zoned for industrial use. In November of 2021, these activities resulted in a Cease-and-Desist Directive and a Notice of Violation from the DEC for lack of erosion and sediment controls and failure to obtain SPDES and Stream Disturbance permits.

On March 28, 2022, Catskill Mountainkeeper, the Woodstock Land Conservancy, and a Town of Kingston resident filed a lawsuit against the developer, the Town’s Code Enforcement Officer and the Zoning Board of Appeals for allowing these illegal activities to continue in violation of the Town’s municipal zoning code. Unfortunately the litigation, partially supported by funds from the Atlantic Chapter and Mid-Hudson Group of the Sierra Club, was dismissed last July by Judge Kevin Bryant of the Ulster County Supreme Court, on the grounds that none of the parties had standing to challenge the decision. A subsequent "Motion to Reargue" the case was similarly unsuccessful.

What You Can Do:

While enjoying the Bluestone Wild Forest, if you hear loud noises emanating from the site or witness heavy truck traffic, earth-moving, or construction activities there (at the southern end of Pickerel Pond), please report them to Andy Mossey, Executive Director at the Woodstock Land Conservancy.

Letters to the editor of Ulster County newspapers (The Daily Freeman and Hudson Valley One) protesting the ongoing activities as well as the proposed manufacturing facility, can be extremely helpful in raising awareness of the issue.

And if you happen to live in or near the Town of Kingston, we are looking for volunteers to attend Town Board and Planning Board meetings and speak up when appropriate on issues related to 850 Route 28.

The Friends of Bluestone Wild Forest meets twice monthly via Zoom. You can sign up for these meetings and learn more about the issue through the website: http://www.saveonteoralake.org.

A New Threat to the Bluestone Wild Forest?

There is currently a new proposal before the Town of Kingston Planning Board for a hot asphalt manufacturing plant at 530 Route 28, an old quarry also adjacent to the Bluestone Wild Forest. Nearby business owners and environmental groups have raised concerns about noxious gases, toxic wastewater, loud noises, and other possible adverse impacts of this project. Despite this, the Planning Board, on July 18, issued the project a negative declaration, meaning that it can proceed to be built without an EIS or a full SEQRA review.

For more information about these issues and what you can do to help, please contact Marie Caruso, our Bluestone Forest Liaison, through our group email: midhudsonsierra@twc.com.

Onteora Lake:

 Onteora Lake

Equipment stored on site next to Pickerel Pond:

equipment storage on site

Construction vehicle seen from the Pickerel Pond Loop Trail:

truck near Pickerel Pond