Pilgrim Pipeline

The Pilgrim Pipeline is a planned 178-mile pipeline that would deliver up to 200,000 barrels of crude oil and other fuel products per day from Albany, New York to coastal Linden, New Jersey on the Arthur Kill.[1]

The Ashokan Reservoir which sits in Ulster County, New York
Aerial photo of the Arthur Kill in Linden, New Jersey where the pipeline would terminate

Background

Pilgrim Pipelines Holdings, LLC, a company founded by Koch Industries alumni,[2] plans to run two side-by-side pipelines[3] which would carry products like gasoline, kerosene, aviation fuel and home heating oil northbound---and highly flammable Bakken formation crude oil southbound---between Albany, New York and the Bayway Refinery on the Arthur Kill tidal estuary in Linden, New Jersey.[4]

Pilgrim Pipelines Holdings, LLC is owned by Ares Management, and the entity financing the Pilgrim Pipeline is a fund at Ares called Ares EIF Investors Funds.[5]

The North Dakota oil in question is drilled via fracking, whereby large amounts of water, sand and chemicals are pumped deep underground under very high pressure to fracture apart shale deposits to release oil and gas.[6]

Concerns

Area residents have expressed numerous complaints about the proposed pipeline.

Safety and drinking water concerns. Some assert that the pipeline poses risk to the residential communities through which it will pass, including the risk of highly flammable volatiles causing explosions and possible unsafe levels of cancer-causing chemicals[7] and drinking water contamination.[8]

[9]

According to an activist group, the Pilgrim proposal would intersect with various aquifers and drinking-water sources and risk contamination, including the following: "The Highlands region in NJ ... provides drinking water to more than 4.5 million people in NJ. Pilgrim’s proposal cuts across 3 major drinking water rivers, numerous smaller streams and two EPA designated sole source aquifers (the Ramapo Aquifer and the Buried Valley Aquifer) in New Jersey. In New York it crosses 232 regulated streams"[10]

Pollution and environmental destruction concerns.

Others fear possible destruction of wetlands, toxic air emissions and soil erosion due to construction.[11]

Volunteers work at cleaning the 2002 Prestige oil spill on the Galicia Coast

Risk of drop in property values. Local residents have expressed outrage over the expected drop in property values for homes near the pipeline.[12][13]

Quality of life concerns. Some homeowners along the proposed Pipeline have said they felt harassed, intimidated or deceived by past efforts by the owners of the proposed line to access their property for surveys and studies.[14][15]

Others have claimed that a great deal of noise and disruption is to be experienced during construction.[16]

Support

Some argue that the region would better avoid price spikes and fuel shortages if a direct pipeline allowed it access to fossil fuels, rather than exclusive reliance on rail and river barge. Others note that the Pipeline would create an explosion of local construction and maintenance jobs.[17]

Opposition groups

Fifteen North Jersey municipalities have created the Municipal Pipeline Group (MPG) in response to the proposed Pilgrim Pipeline.[18]

Other opposed groups include Citizen Action of the Hudson Valley, the NY-NJ Coalition Against the Pilgrim Pipeline (CAPP),[19] and the New Paltz Climate Action Coalition.[20]

Planned route

The route will closely track the New York State Thruway, running parallel to, and west of, the Hudson River.[21]

New York route

As of 2017, the corporation plans to run the fossil fuel pipeline through 28 New York municipalities in six counties:

  • Albany
  • Athens
  • Bethlehem
  • Catskill
  • Coeymans
  • Cornwall
  • Cornwall on Hudson
  • Coxsackie
  • East Greenbush
  • Esopus
  • Gardiner
  • Harriman
  • Kingston
  • Lloyd
  • New Baltimore
  • Newburgh
  • New Paltz
  • New Windsor
  • Plattekill
  • Ramapo
  • Rensselaer
  • Rosendale
  • Saugerties
  • Tuxedo
  • Tuxedo Park
  • Ulster
  • Wawarsing
  • Woodbury

New Jersey route

The company expects its pipeline to cross 29 municipalities throughout five New Jersey counties:

  • Berkeley Heights
  • Bloomingdale
  • Chatham Borough
  • Chatham Township
  • Clark
  • Cranford
  • East Hanover
  • Edison
  • Fanwood
  • Florham Park
  • Kinnelon
  • Linden
  • Livingston
  • Madison
  • Mahwah
  • Montville
  • New Providence
  • Oakland
  • Parsippany
  • Pequannock
  • Pompton Lakes
  • Riverdale
  • Roselle
  • Scotch Plains
  • Wanaque
  • Watchung
  • Westfield
  • Woodbridge
  • Wyckoff

Split Rock Sweetwater Prayer Camp

In protest of the Pilgrim Pipeline on their lands and in solidarity with Standing Rock and other clean water movements, members of the Ramapough Mountain Indians founded the Split Rock Sweetwater protest encampment[22] on their lands in Mahwah, New Jersey in 2016 near the New York border.[23][24][25]

In March 2017, starting at Waterfront Park in Carteret, New Jersey on the Chemical Coast of the Arthur Kill near the proposed terminus of the pipeline, activists marched on a 90-mile Water Walk for Life for water/pipeline awareness, in particular the Pilgrim Pipeline & SPECTRA-AIM in the region.[26][27] Split Rock Sweetwater Prayer Camp welcomed the peace walkers on their journey[28] Longtime peace activist Jun-San Yesuda, a Buddhist nun of the Nipponzan-Myōhōji order and colleagues at the Grafton Peace Pagoda helped organize the walk.[29][30]

See also

References
  1. Pilgrim could be NJ's oil pipeline to nowhere. NorthJersey.com-Feb 3, 2017
  2. https://www.desmogblog.com/2016/04/03/new-pilgrim-oil-pipeline-proposed-new-york-and-new-jersey-raises-many-questions
  3. Detailed map of the proposed Pilgrim Pipeline route https://arcg.is/0iaOHr
  4. Proposed Pilgrim Pipeline sparks further debate. Union News Daily-Feb 19, 2017. http://unionnewsdaily.com/headline-news/29405
  5. http://www.dailyfreeman.com/general-news/20160624/ny-investment-in-pilgrim-pipeline-in-new-paltz-crosshairs
  6. http://www.ecowatch.com/pilgrim-pipeline-ramapough-lunaape-2168516270.html
  7. Proposed Pilgrim Pipeline sparks further debate => http://unionnewsdaily.com/headline-news/29405
  8. Rockland put at risk by Pilgrim pipeline plan: View. Opinion http://lohud.us/2cXXGbQ via @lohud
  9. April 2017 "Talk of the Town" TV35 host Ashley Legg interviews Campaign Director of Clean Water Action, on the proposed Pilgrim Pipeline - an oil and fuel pipeline set to run next to Hillside Avenue School if approved. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okXJZV0g7Y8&t=327s
  10. https://stoppilgrimpipeline.com/pilgrim-faqs/#why
  11. Daniel Hubbard. N.J. Activists Worry As Trump Advances Keystone, Dakota Pipelines http://patch.com/new-jersey/mahwah/what-does-trumps-advancing-keystone-dakota-access-pipelines-means-pilgrim-pipeline
  12. Pilgrim Pipeline Would Impact Westfield's Property Values, Safety and Water https://www.tapinto.net/towns/westfield/articles/pilgrim-pipeline-would-impact-westfields-propert
  13. CAPP faqs page. https://stoppilgrimpipeline.com/pilgrim-faqs/#property
  14. http://www.dailyrecord.com/story/news/local/2014/11/06/pilgrim-pipeline-accused-harassing-morris-residents/18615349/
  15. Oil pipeline company is threatening to take N.J. homeowners to court if surveys denied - http://archive.northjersey.com/news/oil-pipeline-company-is-threatening-to-take-n-j-homeowners-to-court-if-surveys-denied-1.1128532
  16. https://stoppilgrimpipeline.com/pilgrim-faqs/#ROW
  17. Proposed Pilgrim Pipeline sparks further debate. Union News Daily-Feb 19, 2017
  18. Wyckoff Patch: North Jersey Towns Create Coalition To Fight Pilgrim Pipeline http://patch.com/new-jersey/wyckoff/north-jersey-towns-create-coalition-fight-pilgrim-pipeline
  19. CAPP Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/StopPilgrimPipeline/
  20. Standing Rock protest in New Paltz draws hundreds https://hudsonvalleyone.com/2016/12/08/standing-rock-protest-in-new-paltz-draws-hundreds/
  21. Route of the Pilgrim Pipeline. https://goo.gl/maps/JpoT92zA9yp
  22. https://www.facebook.com/splitrockprayercamp/
  23. Native American Tribe Fights Pilgrim Pipeline Plan in New Jersey http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/NJ-Native-American-Lunaape-Tribe-Fights-Pilgrim-Pipeline-Plan-408359755.html via @nbcnewyork
  24. Proposed Pilgrim Pipeline sparks further debate. Union News Daily-Feb 19, 2017. http://unionnewsdaily.com/headline-news/29405
  25. Pipeline activists to start march in Carteret http://mycj.co/2ln1jwr via @MyCentralJersey
  26. Water Walk for Life walks in opposition to Pilgrim Pipeline. Union News Daily-Mar 24, 2017. http://unionnewsdaily.com/headline-news/30131
  27. Activists complete 90-mile walk for clean water The Journal News | LoHud.com-Mar 11, 2017. http://www.lohud.com/story/news/local/westchester/cortlandt/2017/03/11/activists-complete-90-mile-walk-clean-water/99004242/
  28. https://www.facebook.com/splitrockprayercamp/videos/1817008675227953/
  29. 'Water walk' pipeline protest brings Native Americans to Mahwah. NorthJersey.com-Mar 7, 2017. http://www.northjersey.com/story/news/2017/03/07/water-walk-pipeline-protest-brings-native-americans-mahwah/98863480/
  30. Buddhist nun leads “Water Walk for Life” in protest of the Pilgrim Pipeline. Lion's Roar-Mar 9, 2017. https://www.lionsroar.com/buddhist-nun-leads-water-walk-for-life-in-protest-of-the-pilgrim-pipeline/
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