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 COURIER L 6     IFE, OCT. 23-29, 2020 
 FRACK THAT! 
 Pols stand with protesters  
 fi ghting Williamsburg pipeline 
 Protesters and electeds marched in opposition to the planned pipeline.  Photo by Todd Maisel 
 BY TODD MAISEL 
 A planned National Grid gas pipeline  
 in East Williamsburg would cause  
 outsized economic and environmental  
 harm to communities of color, according  
 to local activists and elected offi - 
 cials, who joined a protest against the  
 seven-mile underground duct on Monday. 
   
 “Our children will ask us where we  
 were when the battle was fought,” said  
 city Comptroller Scott Stringer, who is  
 running for mayor. “They will ask us  
 what did to alter this moment in America  
 and around the country. All of you  
 are throwing down because we do not  
 have much time for ourselves and our  
 children.” 
 The protests against the pipeline  
 have been continuing for months — including  
 last week, when activists tied  
 themselves to construction vehicles to  
 halt work between Montrose and Manhattan  
 Avenues on Oct. 16. 
 On Monday, the demonstrations  
 continued with an assortment of local  
 politicos, including Stringer, Congresswoman  
 Nydia Velazquez, state Sen. Julia  
 Salazar, and Councilman Antonio  
 Reynoso — who blasted the plan as contributing  
 to issues like climate change.  
 “The message is clear, global warming  
 is real,” said Velazquez, calling on  
 attendees to vote in the election to support  
 their agenda. “When 3,000 Puerto  
 Ricans  lost  their  lives, when  so many  
 from Central America are forced to  
 leave their countries but they can’t produce  
 any more, you see what corporate  
 America has done in those countries.  
 And we shouldn’t invest in any infrastructure  
 projects that contribute to climate  
 change.” 
 National Grid countered the protesters, 
  saying that the word “pipeline” was  
 a misnomer, and that the project — offi - 
 cially dubbed the Metropolitan Natural  
 Gas Reliability Project — was designed  
 only to supply customers in Brooklyn  
 with uninterrupted service, rather than  
 “to provide a new supply of gas.”  
 In a statement, a company rep called  
 the plan — which was approved by the  
 city in 2016 — a “system integrity project” 
  that was necessary to provide  
 enough natural gas to its nearly two  
 million customers in Brooklyn, Queens,  
 and Long Island.  
 “It’s  been  referred  to  as  a  pipeline,  
 but it’s called a system integrity project, 
  not to bring additional supply, but  
 it basically allows us to more effi ciently  
 service 1.9 million customers,” said  
 the company’s Vice President, Karen  
 Young. “It reinforces the system, so the  
 analogy used is it’s like a highway —  
 when you add a lane, it gives another  
 way to move gas to avoid congestion.” 
 Protesters, however, demanded legislation  
 to  dissuade  energy  providers  
 from making further investments in  
 carbon-producing fossil fuels, and instead  
 invest in using more renewable  
 energy sources.  
 “It is counter-intuitive to be expanding  
 natural gas when we shouldn’t be  
 burning fossil fuels,” said Salazar. “Solar  
 can be part of it, but there is also geothermal, 
  wind energy, there are other  
 options. Instead of investing in more  
 natural gas infrastructure like this,  
 we can be investing in alternatives like  
 geothermal.” 
 And on top of the ramifi cations  for  
 the climate, the activists warned that  
 customers from Greenpoint to Brownsville  
 would be stuck footing the bill  
 through higher rates — as National  
 Grid told the city in July, when they announced  
 plans to raise a needed $236.8  
 million in new revenue, which would  
 be funded by an added $16.66 on customers’ 
  monthly utility bill.  
 “This pipeline is not necessary to  
 meet the needs of people who are on natural  
 gas  to heat  their homes, or using  
 natural gas — and NatGrid conceded  
 that,” Salazar said.