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COMMUNITY VIEW

View: Save Blue Mountain from pipeline

Nancy S. Vann
A crew from Spectra Energy surveys an area in the Blue Mountain Reservation in Cortlandt in November, 2014. The company is planning on replacing and partially rerouting the Algonquin Pipeline through Westchester and Rockland.

Any day now, Westchester Executive Rob Astorino must make a decision about the future of our beloved Blue Mountain Reservation Park in northern Westchester. The decision involves a massive gas pipeline expansion: Spectra Energy's Algonquin Incremental Market project. The pipeline is slated to move hydro-fracked gas from Pennsylvania to New England and likely to export. Although the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved the project and authorized the company to start acquiring lands in our communities for the construction, that approval is currently the subject of a Rehearing Request because many important public health and environmental issues were either ignored or inadequately considered. But even before a decision is made on the Rehearing Request, the pipeline project is moving forward.

Blue Mountain Reservation is an asset of untold value to the residents of Westchester County, serving aesthetic, recreational and environmental values. Currently, Spectra Energy has the right to use some Westchester County parkland for maintenance of an existing pipeline. Those easements – entered into by the county over 50 years ago – come with the company's obligation to pay for and to restore damage they caused in the park. Spectra now wants the right to more county parkland to reduce their construction burden.

The County Executive's office has been in secret negotiations with Spectra Energy on a deal for use of county parkland for some time. The problem is that New York State law prohibits the county from making this deal with Spectra. The law is clear. Parkland is so important that it takes the approval of the state Legislature and an environmental review process to change parkland use. Taking county parkland and "temporarily" using it for a massive pipeline construction project is precisely the type of change that must be considered by the Legislature. The scope and scale of the impacts to Blue Mountain prohibit applying any of the very limited exceptions to the full parkland alienation requirements.

What is clearly needed is additional effort to develop a viable and credible plan to preserve, protect and restore Blue Mountain Reservation. Many important pieces of information about Blue Mountain remain unknowns. Information missing from the pipeline review record – from delineating valuable wetlands to understanding the biodiversity living in the park – is needed to inform any county decisions regarding future use, agreement, or valuation of reservation property. However there is now precedent for beginning a valuation.

On May 19, the Town Board of Yorktown voted to accept an offer from Spectra Energy for the temporary use of town-owned parkland at Sylvan Glen and Granite Knolls. Under the Yorktown deal, Spectra is to pay $1.5 million, make some long-term improvements to Junior Lake Memorial Park, and install a permanent access road to town specifications. The entire consideration for the "temporary" use of that parkland property is valued at $2.1 million. If Spectra sought eminent domain for Blue Mountain, the same valuation and environmental mitigation standards would apply. Eminent domain only authorizes taking of property when there is "just compensation." Some may argue that this is difficult, but it is required by law.

We urge Westchester's county executive to uphold his obligations to residents and properly protect Blue Mountain. We also urge him to work openly with the Board of Legislators to protect parkland held in the public trust; it must not be "given away" to Spectra.

Specifically, the County must comply with New York Law and insist on:

• Compliance with the State Environmental Quality Act;

• Comprehensive restoration of all construction and work areas with native plants;

• Specific time limits for disruption of park activities;

• No loss of wetlands or other ecologically sensitive areas;

• An independent on-site expert for monitoring conditions at all times during construction;

• Repair or payments for all damages associated with work on the pipeline;

• Specific provisions for properly maintaining the affected areas after completion and establishment of a Blue Mountain stewardship fund;

• Financial compensation no less than comparable amounts received (acre for acre) for the Yorktown parkland to be held in trust for exclusively for environmental and park purposes.

Westchester County officials must not "give away" important parts of Blue Mountain Reservation. Old agreements with the pipeline already require further payment and restoration – expansion of the use of these lands demands even more. Blue Mountain must be treated as the valuable asset that it is to our community, and not "sold out" for natural gas in some other community.

The writer, a Peekskill resident, is president of Safe Energy Rights Group, Inc., which helps communities take action against pipeline development, and advocates for sustainable energy projects in the Northeast.