ROSENDALE – The Rosendale
Town Board has gone on record opposed to the plan by the state Thruway
Authority and Department of Environmental Conservation to serve as co-lead
agencies in the environmental review of the proposed Pilgrim Pipeline
along the Thruway.
In a letter to the DEC, the town board pointed out that it has been the
policy of the state agency “to discourage co-lead agency of SEQR
processes, and the town does not see how this case merits an exception.”
The board members wrote that in their opinion, “the criteria for
a lead agency determination strongly favor DEC.”
The Kingston Common Council was the first municipality in Ulster County
to oppose this joint environmental review plan.
Rosendale Councilwoman Jennifer Metzger, who is leading the charge against
joint co-lead agency status, believes other local governments will join
the effort to oppose the joint lead agency proposal.
The pipeline, if approved, would carry southbound fracked crude oil from
Albany to New Jersey and, in a parallel pipe, carry purified product back
north.
The Rosendale Board members say the pipelines would put drinking water
for millions of people in New York and New Jersey at risk.
