Stop NY Fracked Gas Pipeline
1409 County Route 5
Canaan, NY 12029
518-781-4686 * www.stopnypipeline.org
February 6, 2020
Dear Governor Cuomo and Public Service Commission Chair Rhodes:
National Grid proposes to build a 7.3 mile pipeline, the Albany Loop E37, which would begin in the town of Bethlehem in Albany County, cross the Hudson River just south of Albany and cut through the towns of East Greenbush and North Greenbush in Rensselaer County. The pipeline would increase fracked gas capacity in the broader Capital District and increase the number of customers dependent on fracked gas for years to come.
The Climate Crisis demands that we stop burning fossil fuels and rapidly transition to renewable energy. Therefore New York State must deny National Grid’s Application to build the pipeline. We call on the Public Service Commission and the New York State Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) to work with the impacted communities, businesses and consumers to develop a plan using conservation and renewable alternatives to meet the energy needs of the Capital Region.
We applaud the efforts of New York State to curb greenhouse gas emissions. Now is the time to make these policies become reality. The enactment of the New York State Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA) in July of this year mandates a 40% reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the state in just 10 years. The new law directs “all” state agencies, including obviously the PSC, to “consider whether… permits, licenses, and other administrative approvals and decisions” are “consistent with or will interfere with the attainment” of the GHG reduction limits.
The E37 Albany Loop proposed pipeline is in direct contradiction to the goals of the CLCPA and therefore the application must be rejected. To reduce greenhouse gas emissions New York must halt all new fossil fuel infrastructure and begin to shut down existing facilities. The E37 Albany Loop pipeline is a danger to our climate and our community, and is not needed. Alternatives including geothermal, solar, conservation and thermal load sharing are available now.
The undersigned organizations welcome the opportunity to work with your office to make the Capital District an example of how our state will meet our climate goals and make the transition to resilient, renewable, and responsible energy. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to us with any questions or for further discussion. (Contact Ruth Foster at 518-588-0187 or rmfosterny@gmail.com.)
Very truly yours,
350.org, New York, NY
350Brooklyn, Brooklyn, NY
350NJ-R, Rockland County, NY
350NYC, New York, NY
Adirondack Mothers Out Front, Keene, NY
Advocacy Committee of the Capitol Region Interfaith Creation Care Coalition, Albany, NY
Advocates For Springfield, Spingfield Center, NY
Albany Friends Meeting (Quakers), Albany, NY
All Our Energy, Point Lookout, NY
Alliance for a Green Economy, Syracuse, NY
Bethlehem Morning Voice Huddle, Bethlehem, NY
BethlehemNYIndivisible, Bethlehem NY
Big Reuse, Brooklyn, NY
Binghamton Regional Sustainability Coalition, Binghamton, NY
Bronx Climate Justice North, Bronx, NY
Chemung County Mother’s Out Front, Elmira, NY
Church Women United in New York State, Rochester NY
Citizen Action of New York, Albany, NY
Coalition Against the Rockaway Pipeline, New York, NY
Community Advocates for a Sustainable Environment, Schodack, NY
Compressor Free Franklin, Franklin, NY
Concerned Health Professionals of New York, NY
Concerned Residents of Oxford, Oxford, NY
Creation Care Committee of First Reformed Church Schenectady,
Schenectady, NY
Dominican Sisters of Sparkill, Sparkill, NY
Elmirans and Friends Against Fracking, Elmira, NY
Environmental Advocates of New York, Albany, NY
Erie County Green Party, Erie County, NY
Extinction Rebellion Capital District, Troy, NY
First Presbyterian Church of Brooklyn, Brooklyn, NY
Food & Water Action, Brooklyn, NY
FoodScraps360, Albany, NY
Fossil Free PCUSA, New York, NY
Fossil Free Tompkins, Ithaca, NY
FrackBustersNY, Woodstock, NY
Friends of the Earth U.S., Brooklyn, NY
Gas Free Seneca, Watkins Glen, NY
Global Justice Institute, Metropolitan Community Churches, New York, NY
Grassroots Environmental Education, Port Washington, NY
Green Education and Legal Fund, Poestenkill, NY
Green Party of Nassau County, Nassau County, NY
Green Sanctuary Committee of the First Unitarian Universalist Society of Albany, Albany, NY
GreenFaith (Capital Region), Albany, NY
Greenpeace, Washington, D.C.
Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, Inc., Beacon, NY
iEat Green, Old Westbury, NY
Indivisible 518: Justice for All, Niskayuna, NY
Manhattan Project for a Nuclear-Free World, New York, NY
Messiah Lutheran Church, Schenectady, NY
Metro N.Y. Catholic Climate Movement, New York, NY
Morningside Gardens Green Committee for Environmental Sustainability, New York, NY
New Paltz Climate Action Coalition, New Paltz, NY
New York Climate Action Group, New York, NY
New York Climate Advocacy Project, East Greenbush, NY
New York Communities for Change (NYCC), Brooklyn, NY
New York Interfaith Power & Light, Lincolndale, NY
New Yorkers for Clean Power, Kingston, NY
North American Climate, Conservation and Environment (NACCE), Roosevelt, NY
Northeast Organic Farming Association of New York (NOFA-NY), Syracuse, NY
NY State Council of Churches, Albany, NY
NYC H2O, New York, NY
NYC-Grassroots Alliance, New York, NY
NYPIRG, Albany, NY
Office of Peace, Justice, and Ecological Integrity, Sisters of Charity of Saint Elizabeth, Convent Station, NY
PAUSE – People of Albany United for Safe Energy, Albany, NY
People for a Healthy Environment, Horseheads, NY
People’s Climate Movement Capital District, Albany, NY
Plymouth Friends of Clean Water, South Plymouth, NY
Protecting Our Waters, Stone Ridge, NY
Putnam Progressives, Putnam County, NY
Radix Ecological Sustainability Center, Albany, NY
Reach Out America, Great Neck, NY
Refugee Welcome Corp, Albany, NY
Riverkeeper, Ossining, NY
Rochester Pachamama Alliance, Rochester, NY
Rockland Citizens Action Network, Rockland County, NY
Sacred River Healing, Nyack, NY
Sane Energy Project, New York, NY
Saratoga Unites, Inc., Saratoga Springs, NY
Save the Pine Bush, Albany, NY
Seneca Lake Guardian, a Waterkeeper Alliance Affiliate, Watkins Glen, NY
Sharon Springs Against Hydrofracking, Sharon Springs, NY
Sheridan Hollow Alliance for Renewable Energy (SHARE), Albany, NY
Show Up LI, Long Island, NY
Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter, New York, NY
Sierra Club Hudson Mohawk Group, Albany, NY
Sisters of Charity Federation, New York, NY
Sisters of St. Dominic of Blauvelt, Blauvelt, NY
Society of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet: Albany Province, Latham, NY
Solarize Albany, Albany, NY
Solidarity Committee of the Capital District, Albany, NY
Stop NY Fracked Gas Pipeline, Caanan, NY
Stop the Algonquin Pipeline Expansion, Westchester County, NY
Sustainable Otsego, Cooperstown, NY
The Climate Reality Project: Capital Region, NY Chapter, Capital Region, NY
Tricounty NY Transition, Glens Falls, NY
United for Action, New York, NY
Upper Green Side, New York, NY
Upper Hudson Green Party, Capital Region, NY
UU Congregation of Binghamton Green Sanctuary, Binghamton, NY
Watervliet Huddle, Watervliet, NY
Weather Medic Inc., North Tonawanda, NY
WESPAC Foundation Inc., White Plains, NY
Women Against War, Albany, NY