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Health & Fitness

Things are Coming Together for the Pilgrim Pipeline

This is the second of a two-part blog about the Pilgrim Pipeline.

On January 29th, NY Governor Cuomo issued Executive Order #125 to get ideas about how to make shipping crude oil by rail less dangerous.

On February 19th the Center for Biological Diversity sued the Coast Guard and the EPA over its lack of response plan for large oil spills into the Hudson River. The average barge transports 80,000 to 100,000 barrels, and some can carry up to four million barrels. Port Manager Richard Hendrick said that fifty barges of crude oil were processed in Albany during the first two months of 2014. According to George Bochis, the vice president of development for Pilgrim, pipelines would be safer than shipping oil down the Hudson River.

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On March 12, the Albany County Executive issued a moratorium on the “expansion of the processing of crude oil at the Port of Albany pending a public health investigation by the Albany County Health Department.” This suspends plans by Global Partners to install several boilers at the Port of Albany that would heat heavy tar sands crude to make it easier to ship. The order states that this “could create a 'condition detrimental to the public health and safety of the residents of Albany County.'” The moratorium will remain in place while the Albany County Health Department studies the potential health effects as well as the adequacy of emergency response plans. The equipment that is needed for heating tar sands crude isn't needed for the light Bakken crude that would flow in the Pilgrim Pipeline.

At the federal level, Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz has made the case that more pipelines are needed to transport oil safely to "diminish the need for rail transport over time.”

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Lobbyists for the Keystone pipeline, including retired General James Jones, the former National Security Adviser during Obama's first two years, testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that “the crisis in Crimea is proof our nation should support the [Keystone] pipeline.” The Center for a New American Security's Energy, Environment, and Security Program is advocating that policies that encourage oil and gas exports help national security by providing energy security. Jones of Jones Group International puts it this way: “The decision on the pipeline is a litmus test of whether America is serious about national, regional and global energy security - and the world is watching”.

The Pilgrim Pipeline Has Expanded the Fracking Debate in NJ

While pipeline leaks are larger – spilling an average of over 3.1 million gallons of hazardous liquids each year in the US, according to the Pipeline & Hazardous Materials Safety Administration - more oil spills are caused by train derailments. People die when trains explode. Does building the Pilgrim Pipeline guarantee that less oil will be shipped by trains and barges?

How do you balance economic and energy security with private rights and public and environmental health? How many sacrifice zones are in fenceline communities of low-income and people of color? How can legislators avoid letting this default to an ATM for the private sector, leaving the public with a new generation of Superfund sites?

How long will the boom in shale oil last? Companies will need to invest $641 billion in infrastructure over the next generation to keep up with the crude oil, gas, and natural gas liquids being found in the US, according to a study prepared by ICF International. “The next six years appears to be a pretty heavy period for expenditure and investment”, said Kevin Petak, an ICF vice president and author of the study. But according to Chris Rhodes, the author of “Peak Oil is not a Myth”, the production of shale crude actually peaked in 2005. And there is not enough to sustain supplies: “conventional oil production is predicted to drop by over 50% in the next two decades, shale oil is unlikely to replace more than 6%”. So which is it? Are we betting on a “stop-gap” measure, or not?

Should every initiative that increases the production of fossil fuels be balanced with more carbon capture and alternative energy? According to the International Energy Agency: “No more than one-third of proven reserves of fossil fuels can be consumed prior to 2050 ...” if we want to keep the global temperature from rising more than 2 °C “... unless carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology is widely deployed.”

As reported by the New York Times, a Pew Research Center poll from January found that the public ranked Climate Change 19 out of 20 on a to-do list for Congress and the president. So much for the big picture. But NJ has more people per square mile than any other state, and a long history of forming vocal, ad hoc, environmental coalitions. How big will NIMBY be?

Light Bakken crude oil is easier to transport by pipeline than heavy Canadian tar sands crude because it does not need to be heated or diluted with naphtha or natural-gas condensate to lower its viscosity. What about the future? Are there plans to send tar sands crude down the Pilgrim Pipeline to any refineries?

The first of a two-part blog about the Pilgrim Pipeline is at http://middletown-nj.patch.com/blogs/bill-simmonss-blog.

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