BY BEN VERDE
Environmental activists
have fi led a lawsuit to halt
construction of a National
Grid natural gas facility in
Greenpoint, claiming the project,
which is still undergoing
environmental review, is in
violation of state environmental
law.
The suit, fi led in Kings
County Supreme Court on
July 23 by the Sane Energy
Project and the Cooper Park
Resident Council, claims that
the city and state failed to follow
their own environmental
review process by neglecting
to conduct a proper review of
the construction project.
Specifi cally, the activists
say the city of New York violated
the State Environmental
Quality Review Act, and name
the city, the FDNY, and National
Grid as defendants.
Because the proper review
never took place, the environmentalists
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allege, the
city should have stopped the
construction, and the FDNY
should never have granted
variances for storing highly
explosive Liquid Natural Gas
trucks on city streets.
“This is something that
must be stopped and must be
stopped immediately,” said Elisha
Fye, Vice President of the
Cooper Park Residents Council.
“I’ve been living in this
community since 1953. We’re
already impacted in this community
with the oil spill that
happened. We were stricken
with asthma, a pandemic of
asthma fl ooded this community,
illnesses, deformities in
pregnancies, not to mention
the soil is still contaminated to
this day.”
If completed, the station —
a Liquifi ed Natural Gas (LNG)
Trucking Station — would
replace a similar previously
decommissioned station, despite
a ban on the construction
of new LNG facilities in
the Five Boroughs, which was
instituted following the 1973
explosion at an LNG facility
on Staten Island that killed 40
workers.
The lawsuit is seeking a
temporary restraining order
on the project.
The petitioners, many of
whom live in the immediate vicinity
of the site, argue that the
construction of the trucking
station will put them in danger,
citing past catastrophes
and the potential for spills and
leaks, soil disturbance, and an
increase in fl ooding.
“Levels of asthma and other
respiratory illnesses are at an
all time high. To add hundreds
Activist Aderinsola Babawale speaks outside National Grid’s headquarters
on June 1. Photo by Kevin Duggan
of additional trucks transporting
explosive material throughout
North Brooklyn will be an
environmental disaster,” said
Greenpointer Eric Kun.
The trucking station is at
the facility located at the apex
of the controversial North
Brooklyn Pipeline, which
Mayor Bill de Blasio opposed
only after the pipeline was
nearly complete. Hizzoner,
however, has not commented
on the expansion of the facility,
which activists call the “head
of the black snake” for its place
atop the pipeline.
A spokesperson for National
Grid defended the utility, and
called the lawsuit “frivolus.”
“We are working together
with our customers and all
our stakeholders to develop
the right steps and programs
as well as new technology solutions
and innovations to ensure
we can achieve the safe,
reliable, zero-carbon clean energy
future we all want,” said
Karen Young. “It is disappointing
the parties here chose to
fi le a frivolous lawsuit that
has no chance of encouraging
meaningful change.”
PIPING HOT!
Activists sue National Grid and NYC
over natural gas facility in Greenpoint
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