NYCkayaker Harlem River Trip Pics, Vid & LI Sound

[Harry J. Bubbins]

1   Pics:


http://www.friendsofbrookpark.org/impressions/zentrip

2   Description and video link:

http://www.friendsofbrookpark.org/blog/2007/07/harlem-river-video-clips.html


3   Long Island Sound Water Quality DRAFT sign on letter:

Contact for more info:
Maureen Dolan Murphy <mdolan at citizenscampaign.org>

Maureen Dolan Murphy
Program Coordinator
225a Main Street
Farmingdale, NY 11735
516-390-7150
Fax: 516-390-7160 

 Groups Listed Alphabetically
 
July Y, 2007
 
Honorable XXX
New York City Council
250 Broadway, 17th Floor
New York, NY 10007
 
Dear Council Member XXX,
 
We write to express our opposition to the resolution supporting the
Broadwater Energy Project (Res. No. 934). While we understand New York
City¹s need for additional energy infrastructure, we strongly believe that
energy infrastructure can be sited appropriately. Growth and opportunity
must incorporate a facility¹s adverse impacts, concerns of nearby
communities and potential precedent when moving forward.
 
New York must make important decisions regarding how to meet future energy
demands, but they must be the right decisions. We encourage the City Council
to focus on and support measures that decrease electricity and natural gas
use through efficiency and conservation, because of the multiple
environmental, public health and economic benefits. This resolution focuses
on one proposed fossil fuel storage facility that is untested and
unprecedented in size and scope, and a supply-side approach with few if any
benefits. We encourage you to look at all of the energy options, included
several projects that have already been approved, and to choose the energy
options that have the least impact.
 
Even if one assumes more natural gas is needed, the resolution fails to
acknowledge already approved projects entering the New York Metropolitan
Area. The Millennium Pipeline, a natural gas pipeline project, which has
begun construction, expands the diameter of roughly 182 miles of existing
pipeline to carry approximately two and a half times the line¹s current
capacity: delivering up to 525.4 million cubic feet of natural gas per day
to the region. The expansion of the Iroquois pipeline project, which has
been approved and is scheduled to begin construction in the spring of 2008,
will add a compressor in Connecticut and new pipe and chillers in New York
to provide an additional 200 million cubic feet of natural gas per day in
the region. These expansions will help address many concerns specified
within the resolution without creating additional problems on the scale of
the Broadwater proposal.
 
The proposal by Shell and TransCanada Energy is to build a floating liquid
natural gas (LNG) storage facility, called Broadwater, in the middle of the
Long Island Sound. The facility will be ten stories high and four football
fields long. It will require a 1.5 mile radius exclusion zone, restricting
recreational and commercial fishing, lobstering, sailing, and boating in the
Sound. In addition, the multiple shipments of natural gas per week into
Broadwater will require their own exclusion zone and be escorted by guards
carrying automatic weapons on boats, further restricting activity in the
Sound. The moorings that are required to anchor the floating platform will
cover 7,000 square feet of the Sound floor, and the ditch for the pipeline
will damage and disturb fragile ecosystems.
 
As proposed, the Broadwater facility would industrialize an area of the
Sound, setting dangerous precedents for all water bodies under New York
State jurisdiction. First, approving the floating facility and its
exclusion-zone will create precedent of a commercial interest taking control
of a considerable portion of a public natural resource. Second, it would be
sited in an Estuary of National Significance, where many tens of millions of
taxpayers¹ dollars have been spent to restore the Sound¹s health. Third, if
Broadwater is found to be consistent with the Coastal Zone Management Plan
than arguably anything could be found consistent, which as a precedent could
effectively open up all of New York¹s coasts to restricted single use by a
private enterprise. Governor Schwarzenegger recently denied a floating LNG
facility proposed for the coast of California because of concerns regarding
the coastal zone impacts.
 
Additionally, the project¹s developers have not adequately presented the
environmental impacts or security preparedness related to their proposal.
Federal, State and local environmental, wildlife, public health and public
safety agencies have identified numerous deficiencies in the Draft
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). The Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission has yet to release the Final EIS. In addition, Senators Clinton
and Schumer; Representatives Timothy Bishop, Steve Israel,  Gary Ackerman,
and Nita Lowey; and numerous state Senators and Assemblymembers have joined
with over 80 civic, environment, and stakeholder groups to oppose
Broadwater, based on two years of research into this important issue. At the
very least, we ask the New York City Council to wait for the Final EIS to be
issued and reviewed before moving with this resolution.
  
Given the geographic nature of the proposed Broadwater facility, it is
prudent for those communities located within close proximity to the facility
to weigh in more heavily on the proposals risks and potential benefits.
While PLANYC 2030 does in fact recommend that the City support the
development of new natural gas infrastructure, the plan is more specific to
increased development within the City¹s infrastructure itself, not projects
proposed in the Sound. Multiple communities in New York City have faced
power plant proposals, and  know all too well that just because the claim is
made that adding this facility will lower prices does not mean that it will,
nor does it mean that every and any proposal is the best way to address
larger issues. That is the case with Broadwater.
 
We urge you to oppose the resolution supporting the proposed Broadwater
Energy Project (Res. No. 934), and look forward to your response. Please
contact Jason K. Babbie of NYPIRG (212.349.6460) or Adrienne Esposito of
Citizens Campaign for the Environment (516-390-7150) with any questions.
 
Sincerely,