‘We deserve to live with dignity’
Activists say Nat Grid’s north Brooklyn pipeline violates the Civil Rights Act
BY KIRSTYN BRENDLEN
Environmental legal eagles
have fi led a federal complaint
against National Grid, charging
that the British-based utility
company violated the Civil
Rights Act by constructing a
seven-mile natural gas pipeline
through northern Brooklyn.
According to the organizations
behind the legal maneuver,
National Grid failed to
adhere to federal and state environmental
and pipeline safety
laws throughout construction
of the pipeline, which runs
through predominantly-minority
neighborhoods — and thus it
is “racially discriminatory and
has caused unjustifi ed, disproportionate
adverse impacts on
the basis of race and ethnicity,”
according to the complaint.
“Despite being in the fi rst
phase of the pipeline’s construction,
Brownsville and
Ocean Hill were the last to fi nd
out about it, in the summer of
2020,” said Britney Wilson, director
of the Civil Rights and
Disability Justice Clinic. “Despite
the requirements of state
and federal laws, there were no
notices; no public hearings; no
public education campaigns on
the risks associated with pipelines.
COURIER L 10 IFE, SEPTEMBER 3-9, 2021
Instead, the community
did that.”
Specifi cally, the groups —
including Brownsville Green
Justice and the Indigenous
Kinship collective — say that
the “Metropolitan Natural Gas
Reliability Project” violates
Title IV of the 1964 landmark
Civil Rights law, which prohibits
programs reciving federal
funds from withholding benefi
ts or services based on “race,
color, or national origin.”
In a statement, National
Grid said construction on the
pipeline “was conducted with
the required permits and approvals
in place, and was fully
compliant with all laws, rules
and regulations.”
Activists have been protesting
the pipeline since last year,
concerned about the health and
environmental impacts it will
have on the largely Black and
brown neighborhoods it winds
through.
The coalition who fi led the
complaint hope to start a federal
investigation and stop gas
from fl owing entirely.
Maritza Henriques, a Brooklyn
native who has lived in Williamsburg
since 2017, said they
noticed construction through
their area in early 2020.
“People who are familiar
with Williamsburg might know
that it is an incredibly polarized
community, socio-economically
and racially,” Henriques
said. “I took it upon myself to
try and advocate for knowledge
of this pipeline within the
schools in north Brooklyn, and
without any surprise, I realized
that a lot of the affl uent white
residents had no idea that this
pipeline was even built...because
it was not happening on
their streets.”
The complaint, sent to the
federal Department of Justice
and the EPA, as well as other
federal offi ces, names the state’s
department of environmental
conservation and department
of public service, slamming the
agencies for deciding not to assess
environmental impacts of
the pipeline, and for granting
National Grid a rate hike earlier
this month.
Henriques has been pushing
for schools in north Brooklyn
to start educating students
and families about the pipeline,
even becoming the co-president
of a Williamsburg parentteacher
association after learning
the pipeline passes right
through the street they live on
with their son.
“I light a match under the
water that comes from my sink
before I drink water with my
child,” Henriques said. “I’m
investing a ton of money that I
don’t necessarily have on water
fi ltration systems for my home.
And I’m frankly exhausted
from having to do all this additional
advocacy on top of being
a single parent that’s living paycheck
to paycheck.”
“Like, these are the areas
of least resistance because we
are people who are in survival
mode,” Henriques continued.
“We deserve to live with dignity
and respect.”
Activists and neighbors gathered Monday after fi ling a civil rights complaint
against National Grid and the state. Photo by Kirstyn Brendlen
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