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 BROOKLYN WEEKLY, FEBRUARY 23, 2020 
 BROOKLYN PIPES UP 
 Protesters rally against north Brooklyn pipeline 
  
  
  
 Bensonhurst fi re displaces 29 residents 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 Environmentalists rallied against National  
 Grid’s ongoing construction of a  
 seven-mile natural gas pipeline under the  
 streets of Williamsburg and Bushwick Saturday, 
  with one local activist saying that the  
 community will step up to battle the project  
 if elected offi cials fail to do so. 
 “If Mayor de Blasio and Governor Cuomo  
 won’t be real climate leaders and stop this  
 pipeline, the community will,” said Bushwick  
 resident and director of the environmentalist  
 advocacy group Sane Energy Project  
 Kim Fraczek. 
 The protesters braved the bitter cold to  
 voice their opposition of the utility fi rm’s  
 current project to install the stretch of natural  
 gas pipeline connecting its system in  
 Brownsville to its Maspeth Avenue depot at  
 Newtown Creek, which company offi cials  
 claim is designed to relieve pressure on its  
 network and support economic growth in  
 the area. 
 They gathered at one of the current construction  
 sites at Manhattan Avenue and  
 Moore Street, chanting “We say no.” 
 The new pipes would allow for gas to fl ow  
 in  from  Texas,  Tennessee,  and  Canada  to  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
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 BY KEVIN DUGGAN 
  
  
  
  
 Brooklyn at a reduced pressure of about 15  
 pounds — or about half the pressure in a car  
 tire — beneath the borough’s street. 
 But one Williamsburg mom at the weekend  
 gathering said the company and the government  
 should be moving away from fracking  
 fossil fuels to stem the disastrous effects  
 of climate change. 
 “We as a state, we really worked on and  
 we banned fracking, but it’s not really banning  
 if you’re supporting it in other states by  
 getting it in here,” said Tamara Gayer. “As  
 a parent in an age where climate change is  
 becoming more important, there was just no  
 way to ignore this.” 
 Another environmentalist echoed Gayer’s  
 sentiments, advocating for the powers  
 that be to transition to a greener economy. 
 “We know that a different future is possible, 
  one rooted in renewable energy, a just  
 transition and green jobs, and this is the future  
 we deserve,” said Maggie Berke, of the  
 activist organization Sunrise Movement’s  
 New York City chapter. 
 Opponents previously crowded into a local  
 Community Board 1 meeting to vent at  
 National Grid offi cials last month. 
 A spokeswoman for the project noted that  
 the project does not bring any additional gas  
 into the system and said that it was necessary  
 to provide Brooklynites with safe and  
 reliable service. 
 “This project improves safety, reliability  
 and resiliency for our existing customers,” 
  said Karen Young in a statement. “The  
 gas main design, engineering controls and  
 safety features we have in place meet or exceed  
 NYC construction standards.” 
 The state’s Public Service Commission  
 signed off on the project’s route in 2017, and  
 split the tube into fi ve phases — starting in  
 Brownsville and snaking its way north to  
 Bedford-Stuyvesant, before heading west  
 through Bushwick in 2019. 
 The fourth phase started last October  
 and the company is currently working along  
 Bushwick, Montrose, and Manhattan avenues, 
  along with Moore Street. 
 Protesters gathered in opposition to Nat Grid gas pipeline in Williamsburg.    Photo by Derrick Watterson 
 BY ROSE ADAMS 
 A three-alarm blaze ripped  
 through two Bensonhurst  
 houses on Feb. 14, injuring one  
 fi refi ghter and displacing 29  
 residents, according to authorities. 
   
 The inferno erupted on  
 the second fl oor of a two-story  
 house  on  85th  Street  between  
 19th and 20th avenues just before  
 11:38 pm, before spreading  
 to the neighboring house by  
 12:15 am, according to the fi re  
 department. 
 “We found a fi re in basically  
 every fl oor in both buildings,”  
 Deputy Chief David Maj told  
 Loudlabs on the scene. “It was  
 very diffi cult  to  locate  the fi re  
 in the old buildings.”  
 More than 130 smoke eaters  
 arrived at the scene and put the  
 fi re under control by 12:48 am  
 on Feb. 15, according to a Fire  
 Department  spokesman,  who  
 said  that  one    fi refi ghter  sustained  
 minor injuries and was  
 treated at the scene. 
 The Red Cross also rushed  
 to the fi re  to  provide  clothes,  
 food, and shelter for the seven  
 families  that  live  in  the  two  
 buildings, said Red Cross  
 spokesman Michael De Vulpillieres. 
 Reps with the Red Cross took  
 25 adults and four children to a  
 nearby hotel for the weekend,  
 and will refer them to the city’s  
 Department of Housing Preservation  
 and Development to fi nd  
 replacement housing, De Vulpillieres  
 said.  
 Neighbors  said  that  the  
 enormous blaze sent shockwaves  
 through the neighborhood. 
 “It was defi nitely  a  bad  
 fi re,” said Amelija S., who lives  
 across the street. 
 A fi re tore through two houses in Bensonhurst on Feb. 14.   Loudlabs