SLATE HILL – Opponents of the Millennium pipeline lateral under
construction in Wawayanda came out Saturday to deliver their message that
the pipeline is impinging on the bald eagle habitat and that the construction
is violating federal law because of the proximity to the birds.
Actor James Cromwell is one of the leaders in the movement to stop the
pipeline and the CPV power plant, which would use the fracked gas delivered
from the line.
“We have petitioned and notified every agency possible; no one wants
to enforce the law,” he said.
That law, he noted, is that tree cutting is far too close to the eagles’
nest than allowable.
Pramilla Malick, founder and leader of the Protect Orange County group,
remains adamant in her opposition to the pipeline.
“These eagles are clearly in distress and nobody seems to be willing
to enforce the law, not Fish and Wildlife, not the DEC, not the governor’s
office, not the courts so these eagles have nobody, they have no protection,”
she said.
Clara Soaring Hawk Hasbrouck, Deer Clan chief of the Ramapough Lenape
Nation, and a resident of the nearby Town of Wallkill, attended the protest
to say a prayer for the environment.
“I am here as a representative of those who walk in the spirit of
the winged creates and I come today to say a prayer and bless the site,”
she said.
Sam Carquias of Middletown came to the protest with his two children
to say as a Middletown resident, he was given no opportunity to speak
out against the power plant process.
