Wagner, Murphy Spar over Proposed Gas Pipeline
Democratic State Senate candidate Justin Wagner vowed if elected he would block any legislation authorizing any transfer of municipal land for the construction of a proposed natural gas pipeline, a pledge he contended could not be promised by Republican opponent Terrence Murphy based on his voting record in Yorktown.
Standing at a playground and baseball field in the Village of Buchanan a few yards from the route where Spectra Energy has planned to expand an existing Algonquin pipeline, Wagner once again took Murphy to task last week for voting in June to alienate open space on Stony Street in Shrub Oak to allow for the construction of the pipeline that could lead to the development of two all-purpose fields and a full-size baseball diamond on the Granite Knolls site.
The resolution did not pass as Yorktown councilmen Nick Bianco and Vishnu Patel objected to a clause in a temporary agreement with Spectra that called for a permanent loss of one acre for an industrial pipeline cleaning procedure they felt could pose a health and safety threat to residents.
“Any proposed gifting of parkland with Spectra will be dead on arrival if I’m elected in Albany,” Wagner said. “This is not a pipeline issue. It’s a community issue. We’re here to talk about the environment. This is really an environmental treasure here in the Hudson Valley. He (Murphy) cannot take that vote back. He had a choice to stand with Spectra or the residents and he chose Spectra.”
The Spectra/Algonquin Energy natural gas pipeline project would have a 42-inch transmission line run underground from Pennsylvania to Maine, including a connection from Verplanck to Stony Street. Yorktown Supervisor Michael Grace said Spectra approached the town about utilizing some land on the Granite Knolls parcel for a temporary construction and staging area.
In exchange, Spectra would construct an access road from Stony Street to the land designated for fields and a 114-space gravel parking lot. The Granite Knolls site was acquired by the town for $2.7 million following a public vote several years ago.
In June, Murphy noted pipes for the existing pipeline already run through Legacy Field in Yorktown. “The scare tactic that this is going to poison our kids is absolutely absurd,” Murphy remarked. “There’s fields already up there (Granite Knolls).”
Last week, Murphy, who in May joined the rest of the board in voting to seek permission from the state Legislature to allow a portion of parkland for a different purpose, asserted Wagner was trying to “politicize an issue since he had no record to run on.”
“If we were to get people away from the pipeline we would have to evacuate 60% of Yorktown because the pipeline is already here,” Murphy said. “At the end of the day it’s all about safety. I have been consistent in all aspects of this issue; first and foremost in the area of safety. My Democratic opponent would have you believe that I am in favor of ‘building’ a new pipeline. That’s just untrue. The fact is there is an existing pipeline that’s nearly 60 years old and it’s badly in need of repair. The irresponsible thing to do would be to stand in the way of fixing it.”
Wagner, who lives in Croton-on-Hudson, said just the construction of expanding the pipeline would devastate local communities.
“Northern Westchester does not need a new large pipeline to carry fracked natural gas through Cortlandt, Peekskill and Yorktown,” Wagner said. “The risks to our children, communities and environment are too great.”
Murphy conceded the Yorktown Town Board should have joined neighboring Cortlandt, Peekskill and Somers in passing a resolution calling on the federal government to fully review health, safety and environmental issues related to Spectra’s proposed project. He said that would likely occur at the board’s September 2 meeting.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) will be holding a public hearing on the pipeline on Monday, September 15 at 6:30 p.m. at the Muriel Morabito Community Center in Cortlandt. The hearing was originally scheduled for September 11 but Murphy and others raised concerns about it being held on that date, so FERC rescheduled it.
Rick has more than 40 years’ experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, running the gamut from politics and crime to sports and human interest. He has been an editor at Examiner Media since 2012. Read more from Rick’s editor-author bio here. Read Rick’s work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/pezzullo_rick-writer/
