Sullivan legislator blasts FERC; Says county needs to support towns

Posted 8/21/12

MONTICELLO, NY — Sullivan County Legislator Nadia Rajsz began the meeting of the Health and Family Services Committee on April 14 by asking her follow lawmakers to pass a resolution supporting four …

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Sullivan legislator blasts FERC; Says county needs to support towns

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MONTICELLO, NY — Sullivan County Legislator Nadia Rajsz began the meeting of the Health and Family Services Committee on April 14 by asking her follow lawmakers to pass a resolution supporting four towns in the county that oppose the proposed compressor station near Eldred.

Rajsz also used the opportunity to express doubts about the information she had received from a public outreach meeting hosted by Millennium Pipeline, the company that will build the compressor, and representatives of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commissions (FERC), the federal agency that will issue the permit.

Rajsz said that she spoke with FERC representatives involved in environmental issues and that, “I have to tell you that as a laboratorian for over 35 years, doing analysis and testing, gathering data—they were blowing a lot of smoke. I don’t have a lot of faith in what they were saying.” She questioned the honesty of some of the responses to her questions.

She also read aloud Congressman Chris Gibson’s letter to FERC requesting a health study or health impact assessment regarding the proposed compressor station.

Rajsz opened the meeting to comments from the public. Alan Schadt, president of the Excelsior Sport Club, located next to the parcel on which the compressor station would sit, mentioned that Sullivan may take part in a health study with other counties regarding compressor stations. He said, “We’re a $2.3 million club, and I would really hate to see our assets be cut in half or less because of this compressor station. I’m not only involved with the health of my people, who have 32 homes on the property. We’re a hunting club and fishing club, and I’d like to see studies done on the environment and wildlife.”

Another member of the public, Alycia Gilde Egan, also spoke. She said she lives across the road from the proposed compressor station, and incidentally, in her professional life she is “an environmental specialist focused on emission reductions, from anything that pollutes.”

She said the community has formed a group of “community experts.” She said, “We are extremely worried about the impact blow-down emissions will have on the community, the public health.” Blow-downs are sudden releases of large amounts of gas and emissions, which may be scheduled or may be accidental.

Egan reiterated Rajsz’s point that the information that came from the representatives at the March 31 meeting by Millennium and FERC was “changing” and was “very fluffy, just to pacify us.”

After the public commented on the matter, legislators alluded to the fact that several people who are familiar with Millennium’s Eastern Upgrade project, of which the Eldred compressor station is one element, have expressed the view that the additional gas flowing through the pipeline was meant to be shipped overseas as liquified natural gas. Sorensen said he was opposed to natural gas from the United States being shipped overseas.

Rajsz asked her colleagues to pass a county resolution supporting the resolutions passed by the towns of Highland, Lumberland, Bethel and Tusten, opposing the compressor station. She also asked that they support sending a letter from the legislature to FERC seeking to intervene in the permitting process for the compressor station.

The consensus of the legislature seemed to be that Rajsz’s colleagues would support her request, and the resolution and letter will be finalized at the executive committee meeting on April 21.

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