Central NY - Stop the Pipeline (STP) filed extensive comments with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) today, blasting the Constitution Pipeline Company’s lack of directness and transparency in its responses to requests for information made by the United States Army Corps of Engineers (Army Corp) and New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC). The comments were prepared by the Pace Environmental Litigation Clinic, which represents STP. The Clinic spent weeks analyzing the pipeline company’s responses after FERC told the company that it had to provide answers to all agencies’ comments before FERC releases its draft Environmental Impact Statement.
“We were shocked by the evasive techniques the pipeline company used to avoid answering questions,” said Anne Marie Garti, a founding member of STP and a volunteer at the Clinic. “They ignored most of the agencies’ comments, developed legal theories to try to avoid answering others, and then buried the rest in thousands of pages of submitted files so that no one could find them.”
The Constitution Pipeline Company requires permits from both the Army Corps and the DEC before it can begin construction. Both agencies have submitted comments that require extensive analysis from the pipeline company under laws that are outside of FERC’s authority.
Stop the Pipeline (STP) is a grass roots organization of landowners and citizens who are committed to preserving Central New York from the countless negative impacts of the proposed 30”, 124-mile high-pressure gas transmission line that would run through pristine territory, from Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania to Schoharie County, New York. STP retained the Pace Law School’s Environmental Litigation Clinic last Fall to help stop the pipeline. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. founded the Litigation Clinic, and co-directs it with Professor Karl Coplan. Professor Daniel E. Estrin is the Clinic’s Supervising Attorney working on the case.
“A gas pipeline project such as this, proposed to cut through pristine wilderness areas, including trout stream beds and vital wetlands, has potential to cause enormous adverse environmental impacts,” explained Professor Estrin. “We have been pleased with the efforts of the Army Corps and DEC to obtain data that are absolutely necessary to assess those impacts, as well as to analyze whether there is a need for the pipeline project. Conversely, we have been extremely disappointed by the Company’s game of hide the ball, which is clearly designed to make it so hard to find responsive data that the agencies and public will eventually lose interest and give up. The company should know that the public is tracking this process very carefully, and that its efforts to prevail through atrophy of energy or interest will not succeed.”
