Environment Greenpoint

Coronavirus: National Grid halts North Brooklyn Pipeline construction after outcry

"It took a tremendous amount of pressure ... This community is not going to forget it."

March 27, 2020 Scott Enman
Natonal Grid workers were seen in close contact as recently as Thursday afternoon. Photo: Erik McGregor
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Construction on National Grid’s North Brooklyn Pipeline was halted on Thursday afternoon after residents, activists and elected officials complained that the utility company was endangering its employees by sending them to work during the coronavirus pandemic.

Despite the city and state’s orders for residents to stay at home as much as possible, and aggressive measures put in place to encourage social distancing, work on the controversial project had proceeded with employees in close contact, according to witnesses.

Related: Residents protest National Grid’s North Brooklyn gas pipeline

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National Grid spokesperson Karen Young told the Brooklyn Eagle that their field force was following Center for Disease Control guidelines, including social distancing, while performing work — but photos taken on Thursday afternoon clearly show workers closer than the required six feet of separation. (She added that there were no reports of positive cases at the site.)

“We are buttoning up some in-flight projects to ensure they can be safely suspended during the pandemic,” she said. “We are in the process of concluding any construction necessary to secure these job sites so that the projects can be temporarily halted.”

Workers proceeded with construction on the North Brooklyn Pipeline Thursday, despite warnings from health officials that all non-essential activities should be halted to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus. Photo: Erik McGregor

State Senator Julia Salazar celebrated the decision, but said the project should cease entirely — even after the pandemic passes.

The temporary halt to construction is “a victory for the workers and their families who need to be protected from COVID-19, and also a small victory for our communities who have been demanding a stop to the NBK pipeline construction,” Salazar said.

“Now is the time for National Grid to put their resources toward a just transition, not toward expanding gas infrastructure,” she added.

State sen. Julia Salazar called the decision to pause work on the project “a small victory for our communities who have been demanding a stop to the NBK pipeline construction.” Photo: Erik McGregor

The company is currently building an underground gas main beneath Williamsburg and Greenpoint that residents have opposed, citing risk of explosions, health hazards, higher bills and climate impacts.

The business plans to install about 14,000 feet of pipes and is asking customers to foot the $185 million bill for the final phase of the project through rate hikes .

This map shows where the pipeline will be built through North Brooklyn. Map: National Grid

In a letter sent on Monday to National Grid President John Bruckner, more than 60 local residents, 100 neighboring customers and 50 organizations called for a moratorium on the pipeline.

Bruckner had claimed in a series of virtual public meetings that the construction was “emergency” work as part of the settlement agreement with the state over the divisive moratorium on the Williams Gas Pipeline.

The North Brooklyn project was approved by the Public Service Commission in 2017 and is 80 percent complete. Parts of the pipeline have already been built in East New York, Brownsville, Bushwick and East Williamsburg. Phase four, already underway, will extend from Wilson Avenue to Montrose Avenue and is expected to be completed this fall. That portion of the project has already disrupted businesses in Bushwick and East Williamsburg.

National Grid has asked customers to foot the $185 million bill for the controversial project through rate hikes. Photo: Erik McGregor

Phase five will extend from Montrose Avenue to Maspeth Avenue near Newtown Creek and is expected to be completed next year.

“The people of North Brooklyn are taking this pandemic seriously. We’re sheltering in our homes to protect our neighbors and the people that we love. And while we were doing that, buying food and medicine and checking in on the elderly people on our block, National Grid was working around the clock to keep up construction on this pipeline,” said Greenpoint resident Kevin Lacherra.

“It took a tremendous amount of pressure to get them to this point. It’s unconscionable and this community is not going to forget it.”

Follow reporter Scott Enman on Twitter.


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1 Comment

  1. Daniel Wood

    Coronavirus robs people of work. What should a simple worker, such as a builder, do in such a situation? Not everyone has the opportunity to work on the sofa at the computer at home. It is useful to say that the coronavirus behaves very similar to the flu virus, in terms of symptoms, mortality (2%), contagion, and prevalence among the elderly. But the flu virus does not have this impact on the global economy.

    August 31, 2020 at 6:04 pm
    Reply