To: Jesse DeGroodt, Chatham Town Supervisor, Rick Keaveney, Canaan, NY Town Supervisor, Mike Benson, New Lebanon, NY Town Supervisor, James Seward (NY-51), Neil Breslin (NY-44), Daphne Jordan (NY-43), The New York State House, The New Yor...

Stop New York fracked gas pipeline

We are petitioning to ask local, state, and federal officials to oppose Kinder Morgan's Tennessee Gas Northeast Energy direct pipeline project.

Why is this important?

PETITION TO ASK LOCAL, STATE, AND FEDERAL OFFICIALS TO OPPOSE KINDER MORGAN'S TENNESSEE GAS NORTHEAST ENERGY DIRECT PIPELINE PROJECT
Kinder Morgan is proposing a new high pressure natural gas pipeline from Wright, NY to Dracut, MA. This pipeline creates the risk of chemical leaks and explosions that contaminate our soil, water and air, damage our property, and create hazards in our communities. Chemical off-gassing of known carcinogens, neurotoxins and endocrine disrupters happens at the compressor stations and drilling sites, and wherever pipelines are leaking. A recent study submitted to Governor Cuomo cited 41,000 leaks out of 70,000 welds and cement casing samples checked.
The gas that will go through this pipeline is extracted using hydraulic fracturing (commonly known as fracking), which is now irrefutably linked to health problems because of the chemicals involved and the contamination to our underground water supplies. And when methane leaks from fracking, compressor stations, and transmission lines are taken into account, natural gas is far more polluting than coal or oil.
Although it has been stated this pipeline is necessary to keep prices down and provide a bridge between older fossil fuels and future renewables, mounting evidence strongly suggests this is not true. Shortages could be corrected by fixing leaks in older pipeline and by increasing energy efficiency in homes and businesses. Both the Kinder Morgan website and their project pre-application letter state that some of the gas from this pipeline will be exported, which can raise our fuel prices like last winter when propane got sold overseas and U.S prices soared.
Programs that provide jobs like Green Jobs Green NY, State programs that reduce energy use and provide free energy audits, and alternative energy sources like solar panels or wind make more economic and environmental sense than adding pipeline. Some of these programs provide tax credits and rebates, and some mortgage companies give lower interest rates to homes built or retrofitted with energy efficient components.

Therefore, we the undersigned, realizing the risks and costs to our families, our property values, our safety, our drinking water, our clean air, our roads, and the potential costs and stresses to our towns that will be created by the Kinder Morgan Tennessee Gas Northeast Energy Direct Pipeline Project—which will be using fracked shale gas—do hereby state that it is our desire for our federal, state, county, and town leaders to immediately and permanently declare on our behalf that no new or additional high pressure gas pipelines of any kind shall be placed within the boundaries of our towns.

Signed, the following residents: