By Rebecca Martin
KingstonCitizens.org to host a public educational forum and discussion called “The Proposed Pilgrim Pipeline: What Ulster County Citizens Need To Know and How Local Action Makes Global Impacts” on Saturday, January 28, 2017, at Kingston City Hall Council Chambers located at 420 Broadway, in Kingston NY from 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm. Guest panelists include Jeremy Cherson of Riverkeeper, Sue Rosenberg of Coalition Against Pilgrim Pipeline/CAPP-NY, Jen Metzger of Citizens For Local Power and a Rosendale Town Councilwoman and Andy Bicking of Scenic Hudson. The short film “Hudson River at Risk 6: A Pipeline Runs Through It” will be presented by Writer, filmmaker and adventurer and six-time grantee of the National Geographic Expeditions Council Jon Bowermaster.
The event is brought to you by KingstonCitizens.org. Co-sponsored by Riverkeeper, Citizens for Local Power, Scenic Hudson, CAPP-NY, the Local Economies Project and the Hudson Valley Farm Hub, Kingston Land Trust, Catskill Mountainkeeper, Woodstock Land Conservancy, Earth Guardians NY, Citizen Action NY and Sustainable Hudson Valley. With support from the City of Kingston, the Kingston Conservation Advisory Council, Town of Rosendale, Ulster County Executive Mike Hein, Ulster County Legislature and 103rd District Assemblyman Kevin Cahill.
VIEW Event on Facebook for up-to-date information on this important local event.
Kingston, NY – Pilgrim Pipeline Holdings, LLC has proposed to construct two parallel pipelines that would run along the NYS Thruway and through private property—one pipeline carrying Bakken crude oil south from Albany, NY, to a refinery in Linden, NJ, and the other carrying refined products north. The 170+ miles of pipelines, together with nearly 13 miles of lateral pipelines, would impact 31 communities in Albany, Rensselaer, Greene, Ulster, Orange, and Rockland counties, as well as 30+ communities in New Jersey. The carrying capacity of each pipeline would be 200,000 barrels (or 8.4 million gallons) per day, which would more than double the number of trains carrying volatile Bakken crude to the Port of Albany at the peak of Bakken crude production in 2014. The increase in crude-by-rail volume means that the project will also impact many communities north and west of Albany through which the CSX and Canadian Pacific rail lines run.
The proposal has the potential for significant environmental impacts, according to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, which stated that the Pilgrim Pipelines project “…would cross 257 streams and waterbodies (232 along mainline pipelines and 25 along laterals), including the Hudson River (two times) and multiple major and minor tributaries of the Hudson. There are also 296 (9.2 linear miles) crossings of wetlands; including 25 crossings of NYSDEC protected freshwater wetlands (approximately 19 along mainline pipelines and 6 along laterals). Additionally, there will be four pump stations and 215 permanent access roads and temporary access roads at every mile.”
Pipelines would run through several sections of the City of Kingston, with even more pipelines crossing through the Town of Ulster. It is also being proposed that one of the four pump stations (the only one that would be located near a residential area) is to be placed only 200 feet away from a trailer park on Sawkill Road in Ulster, also potentially impacting the Town of Kingston, as well.
KingstonCitizens.org is pleased to present “The Proposed Pilgrim Pipeline: What Ulster County Citizens Need To Know and How Local Action Makes Global Impacts” on Saturday, January 28, 2017, at Kingston City Hall Council Chambers located at 420 Broadway, in Kingston NY from 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm. The afternoon will begin with opening comments by award-winning journalist, author, filmmaker and six-time grantee of the National Geographic Expeditions Council, Jon Bowermaster, followed by his short film “Hudson River at Risk 6: A Pipeline Runs Through It” (that features several of our guest panelists that afternoon).
A powerpoint on the proposed Pilgrim Pipelines project will be presented by our panelists that include: Jeremy Cherson, Campaign Advocacy Coordinator, Riverkeeper, Sue Rosenberg, Coalition Against Pilgrim Pipelines NY (CAPP-NY), Jennifer Metzger, Director, Citizens for Local Power and Rosedale Town Board Member and Andy Bicking of Scenic Hudson. They will give an update on the Pilgrim Pipelines proposal as well as discuss next steps in the State Environmental Quality Review (SEQRA) and what “Involved” agencies in Ulster County (including the City of Kingston, the Towns of Ulster, Marlbourgh, Lloyd, Esopus, Saugerties, Rosendale, New Paltz, Plattekill, and Ulster County) can do in anticipation of the draft ‘Scope’ document.
“Scoping” is a “process that develops a written document that outlines potential environmental impacts of an action (the project) that will have to be addressed in a DEIS or EIS (Draft Environmental Impact Statement). Its purpose is to narrow issues and ensure that the draft EIS is accurate and complete, ensuring public participation, open discussion, and inclusion of all relevant public issues for a final written scope.” It will provide an opportunity for the public to identify local impacts that are of concern to them and their individual city/town in the Pilgrim Pipelines proposals path (that includes a pumping station in the Town of Ulster).
A question and answer period will follow, as well as a call to action and next steps for all participants.
The event is brought to you by KingstonCitizens.org. Co-sponsored by Riverkeeper, Citizens for Local Power, Scenic Hudson, CAPP-NY, the Local Economies Project and the Hudson Valley Farm Hub, Kingston Land Trust, Catskill Mountainkeeper, Woodstock Land Conservancy, Earth Guardians NY, Citizen Action NY and Sustainable Hudson Valley. With support from the City of Kingston, the Kingston Conservation Advisory Council, Town of Rosendale, Ulster County Executive Mike Hein, Ulster County Legislature and 103rd District Assemblyman Kevin Cahill.
Snow date: Sunday, January 29th from 1 – 4 pm at Kingston City Hall. For updates, visit KingstonCitizens.org on Facebook.
For more information, contact rebecca@kingstoncitizens.org.
MORE READING:
Proposed Pilgrim Pipelines Project: Why Kingston and the Town of Ulster Must Stay the Course.
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About KingstonCitizens.org: KingstonCitizens.org is a community-based organization committed to improving the quality of life of Kingston residents through accountability and transparency between the people and their local government. By providing citizens with current and important information through better communication, their work is meant to nurture citizen participation and empowerment through programs and education.
About Jon Bowermaster: Writer, filmmaker, and adventurer, Jon is a six-time grantee of the National Geographic Expeditions Council. One of the Society’s ‘Ocean Heroes,’ his first assignment for National Geographic Magazine was documenting a 3,741-mile crossing of Antarctica by dogsled. Jon has written a dozen books and produced/directed more than fifteen documentary films.
His Oceans 8 project took him and his teams around the world by sea kayak over the course of ten years (1999-2008), bringing back stories from the Aleutian Islands to French Polynesia, Gabon to Tasmania, and more, reporting on how the planet’s one ocean and its various coastlines are faring in today’s busy world.
Jon lives in New York’s Hudson Valley. He is President of Oceans 8 Films and One Ocean Media Foundation, and chairman of the advisory board of Adventurers and Scientists for Conservation and a board member of the Celine Cousteau Film Fellowship.
About Jeremy Cherson of Riverkeeper: Jeremy earned his MS in Environmental Policy at the Bard Center for Environmental Policy in Annandale-on-Hudson in New York’s Hudson Valley. Jeremy first engaged on environmental issues in Washington, D.C., organizing support for the Waxman-Markey climate bill for Environment America in 2007. He has since been an AmeriCorps member in central California, monitored conservation easements in Alabama and Georgia, and served as an assistant camp director at an urban environmental summer camp in Atlanta. Jeremy now serves as the Advocacy Coordinator for Riverkeeper.
About Sue Rosenberg of the Coalition Against Pilgrim Pipelines (CAPP): a retired social worker was originally from NYC, Sue has lived in Saugerties – in the beautiful Hudson Valley for the last 35 years. She has been involved with peace and social justice work most of her life and most recently co-founded Frack Free Catskills involved in NYS’s fight to ban fracking, is an organizer with Coalition Against Pilgrim Pipelines, is one of the founders of the Extreme Extractive Energy Collaborative- a nationwide collaboration of grassroots organizations fighting all forms of extreme energy which negatively impact communities from extraction to use and for a truly just energy future.
About Jen Metzger of Citizens For Local Power: Director of Citizens for Local Power, Jen holds a Ph.D. in Political Science with a specialization in environmental politics and policy. She is also a Rosendale Town Councilwoman and introduced the first resolution in New York State opposing the Pilgrim Pipelines in November 2014 and various resolutions relating to the SEQR for this project. As a Councilwoman, she has been working to inform and engage other affected municipalities along the pipelines’ path on this issue.
About Andy Bicking of Scenic Hudson: Andy Bicking oversees Scenic Hudson’s government advocacy. He has been instrumental in the passage of state budgets that have preserved conservation funding, and engaging members of Congress in environmental and farmland protection projects in the Hudson Valley. He also spearheaded advocacy leading to passage of an expanded bottle bill and the Hudson Valley Community Preservation Act, and advanced work of the Mid-Hudson Regional Economic Development Council’s natural resources sub-committee, the Hudson River Estuary Program, NYS Coastal Management Program, Hudson River Valley Greenway and Highlands Conservation Act, and been on the front lines of the campaign to rid the Hudson River of PCB contamination for nearly two decades.
Prior to his current position, Mr. Bicking directed Scenic Hudson’s environmental education, public events, and grassroots activism efforts. He oversaw the Great River Sweep, an annual volunteer cleanup of the Hudson River’s shores resulting in the removal of 400 tons of trash over 10 years.
Mr. Bicking holds a bachelor’s degree from Oregon State University. He has held leadership roles in a variety of community organizations.