Rockaway Residents Protest Revived Plans for Natural Gas Pipelines

Janet Taylor steps away from the microphone after reading her statement criticizing the NESE pipeline in City Hall Park. Photo by Patrick Stachniak

On the morning of Saturday, Aug. 9, over 100 New Yorkers marched across the Brooklyn Bridge in the summer heat to voice their concerns for the proposed plans of several natural gas pipelines. The “No Trump Pipelines in NY” protest was organized by Food & Water Watch (FWW) to criticize Gov. Kathy Hochul’s alleged willingness to work with President Donald Trump on increasing New York’s supply of fossil fuels.

“It’s your job, Gov. Hochul, to stop these dangerous, costly, and unnecessary projects,” said FWW’s New York State Director Laura Shindell.

The Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Company, owned by Williams Company, resubmitted the application for the Northeast Supply Enhancement Project (NESE) project on July 2, after previously being denied by The Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) in 2020 for violating water quality standards and threatening marine life. The White House stated to E&E News that Hochul had made a deal to allow the NESE and Constitution pipelines to be constructed, in return for her off-shore renewable energy project, Empire Wind 1, which was approved before Trump took office. However, Hochul denies any deal was made.

“We need to get off this gas, big petrol, fossil fuel habit yesterday,” said NYS Senator James Sanders Jr., who represents the Rockaway peninsula in Senate District 10. “People are scared of what the president will or won’t do, and there may be some basis in that fear, but you should not make policy on fear.”

Earlier this week, FWW and NY Communities for Change released a letter signed by over 130 local representatives, including Sanders, NYS Assemblyman Khaleel Anderson, and even NYC Comptroller Brad Lander. The letter criticized Trump, urged Hochul not to give in to his attempts to “bully” New York into accepting the pipelines, and emphasized the environmental dangers found by the DEC.

The NESE pipeline would transport fracked natural gas from Pennsylvania, through New Jersey, and end three miles off shore from the Rockaway peninsula to provide 400,000 dekatherms of gas per day to National Grid customers. The pipeline requires 17.4 miles of construction in New York waters, dredging the ocean floor and reintroducing settled contaminants, such as mercury and copper, back into the water supply, according to the DEC.

During the protest, Janet Taylor, a resident of Far Rockaway since 1996, took to the mic to read a statement. “We don’t want a big, dangerous pipeline going through our water so close to home,” Taylor said.

Taylor joined New York Communities for Change (NYCC) in 2012 after Hurricane Sandy hit the beaches of Rockaway, forcing her and her neighbors to evacuate their homes. The devastation Taylor witnessed when she returned shocked her and set her on the path of environmentalism.

“I love the Rockaways and want to see the best for my community, but we are in serious trouble,” said Taylor. “Trump wants the pipeline, even if it means more flooding and more hardship.”

PSE Healthy Energy, a non-profit research institute, published a report on the impact of several natural gas pipelines in 2018, including the NESE, Constitution/Iroquois, and Algonquin pipelines. According to the report, the new pipelines would increase New York’s CO2 output by 12%, in direct conflict with the Climate Act’s goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by 2030.

The NESE pipeline alone would output up to 10 million metric tons of CO2 a year.

Ed Power is a retired firefighter who has lived in Breezy Point, Rockaway for over 60 years and enjoys the ocean from his beachfront property. Power marched due to his concerns of climate change, after he also witnessed the devastation of Hurricane Sandy. Power retired just before the storm came to New York but chose to put his retirement on pause to aid in the rescue and cleanup efforts of his community.

“Why should we be jeopardizing our greatest asset for the greed of a wealthy international corporation?” asked Power. “I don’t get it.”

According to National Grid, the pipeline would increase prices by 3.5% to pay for the $1 billion construction, though they stated it would benefit customers’ wallets in the long term and increase the supply for new housing development. While the project description states that construction will attempt to “minimize impairment” of the water quality, “mitigation may be required for unavoidable impacts.”

Joan Flynn, a member of Rockaway Women for Progress, attended the protest with her friend, Power. Flynn has lived in Belle Harbor almost her whole life and witnessed the return of marine life to Rockaway after New York prohibited dumping waste in water ways 30 years ago. 

“We raised our kids here; I lived through not seeing whales, and the kids got ear infections [from swimming],” said Flynn. “But that will be the least of our worries if they disturb that ocean floor. We just don’t need it.”

The NESE pipeline has been rejected three separate times since 2017. According to Shindell, who organized against NESE in 2020, the previous applications allowed for public hearings and had double the 30-day window allotted for public comments. Hochul extended the time for public comments until Aug. 16 but has not scheduled any public hearings.

“Hochul has to listen to us, rather than Trump,” Shindell said. “Nothing has changed over these last 5 years… from when New York State said ‘No.’”