Community continues effort to halt NBK Pipeline requests help from FDNY
No slogan could be truer than “you can’t quarantine climate change”. This message is being used by No North Brooklyn Pipeline Coalition and Frack Outta Brooklyn, advocates who wish to protect the community and the planet from National Grid’s a seven mile natural gas pipeline that is on the verge of beginning its fifth and last phase.
Protest of this pipeline began in 2019 and has persisted. Before COVID-19 locked everything down in March 2020, this coalition took to the streets, in the bitter cold of February to march against this pipeline. Several protests occurred during the current pandemic and then a little over a year from that February 2020 rally the coalition and community leaders protested the rate hike meeting. They walked out of this meeting to protest a proposed amendment to the 2019 settlement agreement between National Grid and the Public Service Commission that would allow National Grid to dip into a $20M clean energy fund.
The most recent rally went mobile. On May 2nd the starting point was McCarren park where cars, scooters, skateboards, bikes, and roller skates gathered to get revved up. Then they took to the streets on route to make stops at FDNY firehouses to urge them to deny permits for adding two liquified natural gas (LNG) vaporizers at National Grid’s depot on the Newtown Creek. As stated in the lawsuit filed on March 18, 2021 “the two new vaporizers require multiple permits from the New York City Fire Department (FDNY) and authorization from the Mayor’s Office.”
“The FDNY has the authority to deny the permits for LNG expansion, and we urged them to be our heroes and protect both our communities and themselves as our first responders, from the dangers of fracked gas infrastructure.”
Anna Tsomo-Leidecker
Sane Energy member, Anna Tsomo-Leidecker led the mobile rally, and summed her experience up, “I was so moved to see over 100 people come out on bikes, skateboards, roller skates, and in cars to show opposition to National Grid’s North Brooklyn Pipeline and the expansion of the LNG facility. The FDNY has the authority to deny the permits for LNG expansion, and we urged them to be our heroes and protect both our communities and themselves as our first responders, from the dangers of fracked gas infrastructure. I was proud to stand with organizers from Frack Outta BK coalition in Bushwick, and with Indigenous Kinship Collective at the solidarity action against Enbridge Line 3 in front of Chase Bank, who funds both the pipeline here in Brooklyn and Line 3 in Minnesota. No pipelines should be built on stolen Indigenous land, in NYC or anywhere. The path forward is a just transition to sustainable energy.”
The coalition is asking the community to ask Governor Andrew Cuomo and the Public Service Commission to deny National Grid the rate increase. The link to send your comments is here.
The Greenline 