PICKET LINE: Protesters march across the Brooklyn Bridge to urge Gov. Andrew Cuomo to reject a natural gas
pipeline slated to be built off the coast of Coney Island. Photos by Caroline Ourso
COURIER LIFE, A PS PRIL 26–MAY 2, 2019 3
BY AIDAN GRAHAM
Hundreds of protesters
marched across the Brooklyn
Bridge last week to demand
that Gov. Andrew Cuomo reject
a plan to build a massive
oil pipeline off the Coney Island
coast — which would
transport hydrofracked gas
23 miles through New York
Harbor, from New Jersey to
the Rockaways.
Environmentalists, activists
and protesters blasted the
proposed Williams Northeast
Supply Enhancement Pipeline
plan on April 19, urging the
governor to deny its approval.
“Gov. Cuomo has had lofty
rhetoric, but the reality on
the ground is that his actions
stopped progress on climate
change,” said environmentalist
Lee Ziesche. “If he is a real
climate leader there is no way
he can let this go through.”
Construction of the pipeline
requires approval from
the Cuomo administration’s
Department of Environmental
Conservation, which has until
May 16 to decide whether to
grant permission or reject the
offshore building permit.
The pipeline, proposed
by Oklahoma-based energy
company Williams Transco,
would connect with existing
pipelines to supply natural
gas from the Marcellus Shale
region of Pennsylvania to
National Grid, a utility company
which supplies 1.2 million
New Yorkers in Brooklyn,
Staten Island, Queens,
and Long Island, according to
Williams’s website .
The pipeline would take
more than a year, and cost
more than $900 million to construct,
according to a New
York City Council report .
Williams would pay the
cost of the pipeline up front,
then buy fracked gas from producers
in Pennsylvania, process
it, and ship it through the
pipeline to be sold in New York
by National Grid, according to
the City Council report. Williams
would pay itself back for
the cost of construction by adding
the price of construction to
the cost of the gas.
In its application with
the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission, Williams
claimed the pipeline was necessary
to meet a forecasted increase
in natural gas demand
from National Grid, but requested
that supporting data
be kept from public record because
it contained “confi dential
commercial information.”
The pipeline would supply
an additional 400,000 dt/
day of natural gas to National
Grid’s current pipeline capacity
of 622,000 dt/day, a 64 percent
increase far outpacing a
2012 City Hall study that projected
a mere six percent spike
in natural gas demand.
Critics have argued that
National Grid customers
would be stuck paying higher
energy costs if gas production
outpaces demand.
“If demand for the additional
gas fails to materialize,
National Grid’s customers in
Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten
Island will be forced to pay
for the project through higher
rates,” said honchos with environmental
group Surfrider
Foundation .
The morning of the protest,
the City Council passed a
non-binding resolution in support
of the protest, calling on
Cuomo to reject the pipeline’s
application.
In 2014, Cuomo banned hydrofracking
within New York
state, citing health and environmental
concerns — leading
critics to call his openness
to hydrofracked gas pipelines
hypocritical.
“Governor, you don’t get to
say you banned fracked gas
while allowing fracked gas to
pass through this state,” City
Public Advocate Jumaane Williams
said at the protest. “We
are at a time when your words
are not enough. We have to see
action.”
The Cuomo Administration
initially rejected the
pipeline in April 2018, citing
“potentially signifi cant
environmental impacts that
raised serious concerns,” but
did so “without prejudice,”
which allowed Williams to
resubmit its application, effectively
delaying a fi nal decision
for several months. That
move came as Cuomo was
facing a Democratic primary
challenge from progressive
activist Cynthia Nixon.
During that campaign,
Williams Transco made two
separate donations to the
Democratic Governors Association
for $50,000 each, according
to state disclosure records
. The association, which
lists Cuomo among its leadership
team, then made a $20,166
in-kind contribution to Cuomo’s
campaign, according to
campaign fi nance records .
State ethics records show
that Williams Transco, in
June 2017, hired lobbying fi rm
Kivvit to curry favor with “Executive,
Legislative, and Administrative
branches of the
New York State Government.”
One year later, Cuomo
hired Kivvit’s managing partner
Maggie Moran to manage
his re-election campaign. In
order to accept the job, Moran
took a leave of absence
from the fi rm, where she had
been tasked with “overseeing
all aspects of Kivvit’s day-today
operations,” according to
Kivvit’s website .
Critics have panned the
apparent closeness between
Cuomo and the gas company,
but argued that public pressure
would be enough to force
the governor’s hand.
“There are a lot of powerful
forces with a lot of money
pressuring the governor,” said
Ziesche. “The fossil fuel industry
is not going to give up easily.
But we have the facts and
the science on our side. If he is
serious about protecting the
environment, then he has to
stop the Williams pipeline.”
Piping hot
Protesters demand Cuomo
reject proposed pipeline
off of Coney Island coast
NO RELATION: Public Advocate Jumaane Williams speaks at a rally protesting the Williams pipeline.