The Village Voice Blasts Spectra True to its longstanding tradition of outraged journalism, this week's Village Voice (the paper that relentlessly fo
The Village Voice Blasts Spectra
True to its longstanding tradition of outraged journalism, this week's Village Voice (the paper that relentlessly followed the Westway debacle), covered another Hudson River travesty.
Reporter Nick Pinto opens his post with examples of how frequently pipelines tend to explode, then differentiates smaller, low pressure, distribution lines from the Spectra pipeline, a large transmission pipe centered in a dense population area, "running at pressures well in excess of that of a fire hose," noting, "When these things blow, they blow the fuck UP."
The article handily sums up the major issues with the project: the terrible safety record of the builder; the skewed FERC approval system; the various lawsuits; the community resistance––and especially––the placement of the pipe adjacent to the new fire boat station, the new water main, and, "the Pier 51 playground, frequented by the sometimes adorable and always flammable children of the neighborhood."
Online comments are flooding in and we invite Sane Energy members to chime in. It has taken 2 years for any major NYC media outlet to finally do some in-depth reporting on this issue, and we'd like to signal the Voice that this is a topic we want them to follow up on. Full story here.
Natural Gas Watch Reports: New $95,500 fine for Spectra
Poor Spectra. The day after The Village Voice posted its scathing report, Natural Gas Watch broke the story of their latest federal fine, this time for lack of repairs and maintenance. Frank Gallagher reports that Spectra "allegedly put off critical repairs and maintenance to its natural gas transmission system in Pennsylvania for more than four years, from July 2008 to August 2012, even though the company’s own testing indicated a potential problem." Now, PHMSA has "cited the company for failing to adequately protect its metal pipelines from corrosion and for failing to properly test shut-off valves meant to staunch the flow of natural gas in the event of an emergency." For those of us who'll be living next to, and biking or driving on top of, their latest metal pipeline, we suspect that Spectra's "Safety is our first concern" tagline has little or no backup in actual practice. Let's review: in the past year alone, Spectra had 2 pipeline leaks in one week (June, 2012); and a previous $134,000 PHMSA fine for failure to control pipeline corrosion (July, 2012). In fact, this makes it the fifteenth time that PHMSA has cited Texas Eastern for pipeline safety violations since January 2006. When are Mayor Bloomberg and Con Ed going to wake up to the fact they they have thrown their weight behind a project that is a disaster in the making?
"E" Magazine Calls Spectra a "New Worry" for NYers
Don Lieber, a New York native, is equally concerned about Spectra's history. He catalogs "major accidents and safety violations, including a 2004 series of explosions at a Spectra gas facility in Moss Bluff, Texas, that leaked six billion cubic feet of gas into the air and forced residents within three miles to evacuate. In June 2012, a ruptured Spectra pipeline caused a flash fire in rural Western Canada." He notes a passage from Spectra’s corporate website that may amuse Manhattanites living on the cement edges of the island, who are advised to “take care in tilling and plowing not to damage the pipeline,” and noting that “burning anything within the pipeline right-of-way could impact the integrity of the pipeline facilities.” The entire story is readable for subscribers to E Magazine ($12.95 a year).
SNEAK PREVIEW: More coming up!
At least two other major stories about Spectra are coming up:
The upstate publication, The No Frack Almanac will be out in mid-to-late February, with an account of Jeremy Alderson's visit to the December 4th CB2 hearing, where Con Ed first revealed its plans to extend the pipeline into Chelsea. Jeremy came to New York to meet up with activists who were arrested the same day he was (for an unrelated action at the Intergy plant) and amusingly recounts the "shoe demon" that mysteriously possessed a Spectra spokesperson at that event.
In March, Spectra will be the cover story of community magazine Chelsea Life, a neighborhood that until recently believed the pipeline to be someone else's problem. Once informed about the Con Ed extension, the leaders of CB4 (the Chelsea community board) called for a hearing with Con Ed, same as CB2. That meeting will take place on Thursday, February 14th, and will be open to the public. They are searching for a location large enough to host the expected crowds. We'll keep you posted as soon as all details are confirmed.
