The proposed Williams/Transco Rockaway Lateral Pipeline will carry “fracked” natural gas from the Marcellus Shale in upstate New York. It will tunnel under Jamaica Bay, Riis Park, and Breezy Point, through precious wetlands, bird sanctuaries, and fishing grounds, and continue under Flatbush Avenue, surfacing at the Kings Plaza Shopping Center at Avenue U.
All pipelines corrode over time, especially those submerged in saltwater. They rupture, they leak– they even explode. Williams/Transco has a very poor safety record. Last year one of its pipelines exploded in Alabama, hurling a 47-foot-long pipe 200 feet away. The gas ignited and burned for hours, damaging adjoining pipelines and about 8 acres of surrounding property.
Natural gas is being sold to New Yorkers as “clean energy,” but it is not. It is methane, a greenhouse gas that is 21 times more potent than carbon dioxide. And fracked gas–natural gas released when water and toxic chemicals are injected into shale under intense pressure–is a greater threat to our health, our environment, and our planet than the dirtiest coal.
What You Can Do to Stop This Pipeline
Because the proposed pipeline is in a federal park, Congress must approve it. The House initially voted on HR 2606, which was approved by the Senate. HR 2606 has now gone back to the House for a final vote (expected the week of November 12.)
What We Don’t Want In Our Backyards: A giant corporation building a high-pressure gas pipeline right through our public parkland and shorefront
What We Do Want In Our Backyards: Publicly owned renewable energy and green jobs at good wages.
Call your congressperson TODAY! Tell your rep to vote NO on HR 2606. Use this link to get your congressperson’s Washington number.
Right now we have the technology to power our homes and businesses with renewable energy–solar, wind, water, and geothermal. What’s missing is the political leadership to drive the change.
Building more infrastructure for fossil fuels like fracked gas from the Marcellus Shale not only destroys our environment. It actually prevents us from moving to renewables. When we increase investment in fossil fuels, we discourage investment in renewable energy.
More than 650,000 NYC residential rooftops have the potential for solar power–enough to provide 41% of peak electricity needs—yet only 400 rooftops have solar panels. Why? Because the burden of the cost is placed on the individual.
Other countries–Germany, Denmark, China–going solar. How? By financing the change with public dollars. This is what we need to fight for: public ownership of power generation, community-based renewable energy that we can all share in.
Renewable energy will bring real jobs and a sustainable future to New Yorkers. Fossil fuels provide temporary jobs, destroy communities and our environment, and accelerate climate change.
We are facing a planetary emergency. Let’s not hand over our future to the fossil fuel industry.
To learn more about this issue, contact climateaction@brooklynpeace.org.
Call 718-624-5921.
Climate Action is a working group of Brooklyn For Peace