TIMES
NATIONAL NEWSPAPER ASSOCIATION FIRST-PLACE AWARD FOR GENERAL EXCELLENCE, 2016
MID
HUDSON
Vol. 28, No 40
3
OCTOBER 5 - 11, 2016
ONE DOLLAR
Epic battle
looms
Page 48
SERVING NEWBURGH AND NEW WINDSOR
‘Potential for disaster’
Pilgrim Pipeline foes gather at Town Hall
New Windsor
keeps wary
eye on water
Developing alternative
water sources
By JESSICA COHEN
[email protected]
Alarmed by Pilgrim Pipeline plans to
put two 170-mile oil pipelines along the
Thruway from Albany to New Jersey
and laterally through Newburgh and
New Windsor to oil facilities, about 50
people gathered at Newburgh Town Hall
on Thursday. One pipeline would carry
200,000 barrels per day of Bakken crude
oil from Albany to New Jersey, while
the other would take 200,000 barrels
of refined oil products daily to Albany
from New Jersey.
The meeting was hosted by Orange
Residents Against Pilgrim Pipelines
and led by Sandra Kissam, ORAPP
acting chair. The group’s literature cites
a report by Environmental Research
Consulting, described as “industry
funded,” that attributes 80% of oil spilled
to pipelines, compared to trucks spilling
10%, barges 6%, ships 4%, and trains 1%.
“The potential for disaster is
beyond comprehension,” said Richard
Randazzo, Cornwall Town Supervisor.
“The pipeline crosses multiple aquafers.
With a pipeline breach, recovery could
take years, with many impacts. The
community as we know it may cease to
exist. The state government is putting
us at risk, with no benefit to us, only to
politicians whose campaign coffers get
filled. Governor Cuomo could stop this
with the stroke of a pen.”
Randazzo said he would send a letter
to Cuomo and invite him to “come and
face his constituents.”
“We sent resolutions opposing the
pipeline to towns along the freeway,”
said Steve Gold, chief of staff for 14th
3
By SHANTAL RILEY
[email protected]
evidence, he noted the successful effort
to convince Governor Andrew Cuomo to
ban fracking in New York, with crowds
of protestors often impeding movement
around him.
Sussman also pointed out the
limited window of opportunity for key
legal steps. He urged residents to file
objections to allowing NYS Thruway
Authority to have co-lead agency status
with the New York Department of
New Windsor officials are breathing
a sigh of relief with the installation
of a carbon-filtration system designed
to remove perfluorooctane sulfonate
(PFOS) from Washington Lake water
before it is pumped into Silver Stream.
“The DEC has brought in a portable,
water-treatment system,” said New
Windsor Chief Water Plant Operator
John Egitto. “The purpose is to remove
PFOS and pump the water through the
system, back into water bodies, including
Silver Stream and Moodna Creek,” Egitto
said Monday. “So, it doesn’t spread the
contamination.”
Last month, the New York State
Department
of
Environmental
Conservation installed a granularactivated carbon filtration system at
Washington Lake, where PFOS was
found at elevated levels in the spring.
The filtration system was installed to
both remove PFOS and prevent potential
flooding ahead of the storm season after
the City of Newburgh stopped drawing
water from the contaminated lake.
The lake had been the city’s primary
source of drinking water until tests
revealed PFOS levels there as high
as 243 parts per trillion – above the
Environmental Protection Agency’s
health advisory level, which was 200
Continued on page 2
Continued on page 4
Orange Residents Against Pilgrim Pipeline acting chair Sandra Kissam introduced Richard
Randazzo, Cornwall Town Supervisor, who said, “The proposed pipeline crosses multiple
aquafers. With a pipeline breach, recovery could take years, with many impacts.”
District Assemblyman Frank Skartados.
Gold said Skartados is also advocating a
bill to ban pipelines on the Thruway that
now has 12 cosponsors. “If it dies, it will
die in the first committee,” Gold said.
He noted a comment from one
potential supporter about “unintended
consequences,” which Gold interpreted
as, “Maybe no campaign funding.”
Civil rights attorney Michael Sussman
emphasized the importance of timely
legal action as well as large and frequent
protests in stopping the pipeline. As
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