They Want To Put A Pipeline Through The Rockaways?

Is a natural gas pipeline through the Rockaways a good idea? That's the question Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is currently mulling as it looks into the environmental impacts of the $265 million Rockaway Delivery Lateral Project currently being proposed by the Williams Companies. Naturally, the pipeline already has some opponents.

“We’re worried about the environmental footprint that this project will have out in the Atlantic Ocean,” Dan Mundy Jr., vice president of the Jamaica Bay Ecowatchers, told the News after a meeting about the project yesterday. And there are definitely some downsides to natural gas (as there are for every form of energy to tell the truth).

What the Williams Companies are proposing is three-fold. First they want to build a 3-mile pipeline to connect the Rockaways to the existing natural gas Transco line which runs parallel to the peninsula on the ocean floor. Then they want to connect that pipe under Jamaica Bay into Brooklyn, with a stop at a proposed Metering facility they want to build on Floyd Bennett Field. National Grid would construct the second pipeline.

Williams hopes to get approval from the feds in the next year so they can get building—with a goal of getting the project done by the end of 2014. They say it is needed as the demand for natural gas has gone up. “The system is at its capacity,” one gas official said.

But some locals are nervous about the idea of the line going through an area that has quite a lot of marine life, not to mention the Gateway National Park. Not all the locals are worried though. The district manager of Community Board 14 told the News that the project could be a boon to the community because natural gas is more environmentally friendly and cheaper than other fuels like oil or propane.

Maybe you don't agree though? In that case the Feds "scoping period" is open until June 25. You can get your voice heard here. But the writing may well be on the wall on this one. The plan has support in DC and in City Hall—remember, Bloomberg wanted more clean energy as part of his PlaNYC!