OPINION: Environmental concerns outweigh desire for cheaper natural gas
Hats off to New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer, who is leading the opposition to the Williams Northeast Supply Enhancement pipeline.
On Wednesday he voiced his grave concerns about the $1 billion natural gas pipeline that would cut across 23 miles of lower New York Bay. Although environmentalists are understandably alarmed, the Williams Company says the new pipeline would provide much needed natural gas capacity to Brooklyn, Queens and Manhattan.
A Draft Environmental Impact Statement issued by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission acknowledged that the construction and operation of the pipeline would result in “some adverse environmental impacts” but said most of these impacts would be temporary, such as water “turbidity, sedimentation, and pile driving noise.”