fbpx
  • Subscribe & Support
  • Print Edition
    • Get Home Delivery
    • Read ePaper Online
    • Newsstand Locations
  • HV1 Magazines
  • Contact
    • Advertise
    • Submit Your Event
    • Customer Support
    • Submit A News Tip
    • Send Letter to the Editor
    • Where’s My Paper?
  • Our Newsletters
  • Manage HV1 Account
  • Free HV1 Trial
Hudson Valley One
  • News
    • Schools
    • Business
    • Sports
    • Crime
    • Politics & Government
  • What’s UP
    • Calendar Of Events
    • Subscribe to the What’s UP newsletter
  • Opinion
    • Letters
    • Columns
  • Local
    • Special Sections
    • Local History
  • Marketplace
    • All Classified Ads
    • Post a Classified Ad
  • Obituaries
  • Log Out
No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • Schools
    • Business
    • Sports
    • Crime
    • Politics & Government
  • What’s UP
    • Calendar Of Events
    • Subscribe to the What’s UP newsletter
  • Opinion
    • Letters
    • Columns
  • Local
    • Special Sections
    • Local History
  • Marketplace
    • All Classified Ads
    • Post a Classified Ad
  • Obituaries
  • Log Out
No Result
View All Result
Hudson Valley One
No Result
View All Result

Pilgrim Pipeline opponents want DEC to lead review

by Jeremiah Horrigan
April 18, 2016
in General News, News
0
The pipeline would pass through Saugerties along the Thruway (photo by Will Dendis)
The pipeline would pass through Saugerties along the Thruway (photo by Will Dendis)

After Pilgrim Pipeline filed permits to use the Thruway corridor as a right-of-way last week, opponents of the 178-mile oil pipeline restated their opposition to the project and demanded that the Department of Environmental Conservation lead the review rather than the Thruway Authority.

“These pipelines would directly contradict the energy and climate goals for New York and threaten the health and well-being of our communities,” said Rosendale Town Board member Jennifer Metzger, in a release.

The double pipeline would be build between Albany and Linden, NJ, with 200,000 gallons of crude oil per day moving south and the same volume of refined products north. The route is mostly along the Thruway right-of-way, but includes some private property.

Many local towns and cities have expressed opposition to the project, citing the local dangers of pipeline leaks and wider implications of fracking (the oil bound for the Pilgrim Pipeline originates from the Bakken shale in North Dakota, the same deposits that have increased the volume of oil carried by trains and barges through the Hudson Valley to New Jersey refineries).

Ulster County as well as the towns of Woodstock and New Paltz and city of Kingston have passed resolutions against the pipeline, and the town of Saugerties declared “no confidence” in the project after a canceled public informational meeting. (A company spokesman at the time said public hearings had a tendency to “devolve into shouting matches.”)

Pilgrim says pipelines are a safer and more efficient way of moving oil.

“Fossil fuels are slated to drive our economy for the foreseeable future,” wrote George Bochis, vice president for development at Pilgrim Pipeline Holdings, LLC, in an op-ed in Saugerties Times earlier this year. “America’s growing capacity for energy production means its citizens face a choice about the infrastructure that transports those fuels. By creating a reliable, efficient and state-of-the-art underground pipeline that reduces fuel barge traffic through the region, the Pilgrim Pipeline offers clear benefits to the region.”

Bochis wrote that the pipeline would not increase the amount of oil passing through the region because East Coast refineries are already at capacity.

Pipeline opponents Lanny Walter and Sue Rosenberg asked the Saugerties Town Board on Nov. 18 to support their request that DEC lead the review of the project. They said the board needed to weigh in by Dec. 16.

Relations between the Town Board and Pilgrim don’t seem to have improved since the board’s June “no confidence” vote. Town Supervisor Greg Helsmoortel appeared peeved, complaining that he hadn’t been notified that the company had filed its three-volume draft environmental impact statement before the meeting, even though the press and opponents had been notified.

He was particularly scornful of an assurance by the company contained in a press release saying it wanted to be “as transparent as possible” while inviting “questions and dialogue with government officials and the public.”

“They haven’t been that way thus far,” he said. “They’ve already got a lot of strikes against them. I have very little faith in them at all, if any.”

Join the family! Grab a free month of HV1 from the folks who have brought you substantive local news since 1972. We made it 50 years thanks to support from readers like you. Help us keep real journalism alive.
- Geddy Sveikauskas, Publisher

Jeremiah Horrigan

Related Posts

Roy Hochberg, Hurley Town Justice, dies at 83
News

Roy Hochberg, Hurley Town Justice, dies at 83

July 11, 2025
Transmission failures force Town of Ulster Police Department to replace its hybrid vehicles sooner than expected
News

Wawarsing car accident leads to hospitalization for Brooklyn man

July 11, 2025
Rent regulated landlords face the pressure to sell. Who will buy?
Politics & Government

Rent regulated landlords face the pressure to sell. Who will buy?

July 10, 2025
Zena Development principals explain their project
Politics & Government

Zena developer wants to keep his options open

July 10, 2025
Onteora faces “unfathomable” choices as district’s enrollment dwindles
Education

Onteora trims defeated building project by nearly $7 million

July 10, 2025
New Paltz police commissioners named, council members shamed
Politics & Government

New Paltz’s police commission abolished

July 9, 2025
Next Post

Transfer station cuts back to two days a week

Weather

Kingston, NY
72°
Mostly Cloudy
5:30 am8:33 pm EDT
Feels like: 72°F
Wind: 3mph SSE
Humidity: 94%
Pressure: 30.05"Hg
UV index: 0
SunMonTue
84°F / 70°F
84°F / 66°F
90°F / 68°F
Kingston, NY climate ▸

Subscribe

Independent. Local. Substantive. Subscribe now.

  • Subscribe & Support
  • Print Edition
  • HV1 Magazines
  • Contact
  • Our Newsletters
  • Manage HV1 Account
  • Free HV1 Trial

© 2022 Ulster Publishing

No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • Schools
    • Business
    • Sports
    • Crime
    • Politics & Government
  • What’s Happening
    • Calendar Of Events
    • Art
    • Books
    • Kids
    • Lifestyle & Wellness
    • Food & Drink
    • Music
    • Nature
    • Stage & Screen
  • Opinions
    • Letters
    • Columns
  • Local
    • Special Sections
    • Local History
  • Marketplace
    • All Classified Ads
    • Post a Classified Ad
  • Obituaries
  • Subscribe & Support
  • Contact Us
    • Customer Support
    • Advertise
    • Submit A News Tip
  • Print Edition
    • Read ePaper Online
    • Newsstand Locations
    • Where’s My Paper
  • HV1 Magazines
  • Manage HV1 Account
  • Log In
  • Free HV1 Trial
  • Subscribe to Our Newsletters
    • Hey Kingston
    • New Paltz Times
    • Woodstock Times
    • Week in Review

© 2022 Ulster Publishing