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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