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A plan to construct a new chain of natural gas pipelines from the Atlantic Ocean off the Rockaways through Jamaica Bay to the city is fueling anxiety from residents and some lawmakers because of its complexity and its potential impact on the surrounding community and coastal habitat.
The pipeline project is being championed by the mayor’s office, which says it is critical for meeting the demands of the energy-hungry metropolis, and National Grid, whose customers in Brooklyn and Queens will largely benefit from the increased supply that the project will bring.
Much of the project takes place in the 26,000-acre Gateway National Recreation Area. A new pipeline will extend from an existing gas line two-and-a-half miles off the Rockaway coast and run underneath Jacob Riis Park toward Jamaica Bay. Two pipelines will then run underneath the Bay, connecting to a proposed gas metering station to be housed in a historically significant hangar at Floyd Bennett Field. A separate pipeline will run from the meter station to an existing gas main on Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn.
HR 2606/SA 2869 permits the construction of a high-pressure gas pipeline through Gateway National Recreation Area and a gas metering and regulating station in the historic hangars at Floyd Bennett Field. The Coalition Against the Rockaway Pipeline (CARP) opposes this project because it:
- Threatens wildlife, wetlands, and sensitive ecosystems in Jamaica Bay and Breezy Point
- Puts park users and area residents at risk in the event of a gas explosion or terrorist action
- Turns over land held in the public trust to private industrial use
- Promotes hydrofracking, which threatens our water, soil, air, and public health
- Promotes the use of shale gas, a fossil fuel that greatly accelerates climate change
Click here to tell your representative in Congress to stop passage of this bill