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Environmental Advocates Call on DEC for Action on Abandoned Southern Tier Pipeline
BINGHAMTON, N.Y. -- Environmental advocates are calling on the DEC to do something about an abandoned pipeline in the Southern Tier.
Toxics Targeting Incorporated spoke out about the 300 mile crude oil pipeline Tuesday. They say DEC findings show that the pipeline caused massive soil and ground-water contamination across the region.
It was the nation's first ever large-scale crude oil pipeline, built in 1881, stretching from Olean to Bayonne, New Jersey.
Toxics Targeting says the DEC failed to clean up the pollution to state standards even though water supply wells, streams and homes are near contaminated areas.
"It is a continuing threat to the environment and to the public health. People live very close to this pipeline alignment; they’ve never been told about these problems and they ought to be alerted,” said Walter Hang, the president of Toxics Targeting Inc.
The pipeline was in use until 1925, pushing through 55,000 barrels of oil per day.
Defunct pipeline still causing contamination, activist alleges
Contamination from a defunct Standard Oil pipeline hasn't been properly cleaned up in New York, according to documents compiled by an anti-fracking activist.
The pipeline, which ran from Olean, New York, to Bayonne, New Jersey, was part of John D. Rockefeller's oil empire. Built in the 1800s, it carried crude oil until 1925. But some oil appears to remain in the line's aging pipes, risking contamination of groundwater, soil and wetlands, an Ithaca fracking opponent says.
“People are living along this 300 mile pipeline and they have no idea that very likely it has leaked, corroded and caused underground pollution they were never told about," said Walter Hang, who runs Toxics Targeting.
The Department of Environmental Conservation has held Exxon-Mobil responsible for contamination for historic Standard Oil operations in Olean, Greenpoint and Queens, department spokeswoman Erica Ringewald said.
"DEC will continue to hold Exxon Mobil responsible to clean up any contamination in New York State resulting from the Olean, NY, to Bayonne, NJ, pipeline built by Standard Oil in 1881,” Ringewald said in a statement.
Oil contamination investigations conducted by Columbia Gas, as the company prepared to install the Millennium Pipeline, cite the existence of the old, 1920s pipeline. Oil from the pipeline was found near Barton and Candor in Tioga County, according to reports provided to the DEC and obtained by Hang, using a public records request.
Excavation activities in 2008 near State Route 96 uncovered three defunct pipelines, a 2012 report by a consultant for Columbia states.
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See the rest of this article on the Politico New York website
Environmental Activist Calls for In-Depth Investigation of 'Ancient' Pipeline
An environmental activist has called on the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to require an in-depth investigation of a no longer functioning crude oil pipeline that runs through parts of Upstate New York.
The president of the Ithaca-based environmental database firm Toxics Targeting, Inc., Walter Hang, held a press conference Tuesday at the Broome County Library. Hang said the Olean-Bayonne Pipeline, which was built by the Standard Oil Company in 1881 and operated until the 1920s, could pose contamination hazards in locations between Olean, NY and Bayonne, NJ.
Hang said he requested to review reports of oil contamination investigations a Columbia Gas Transmission consultant sent to the DEC. The reports cite the old pipeline as the probable source of oil release discovery in Catatonk, the Town of Candor and the Town of Barton in Tioga County. The discoveries reportedly took place during preparation for installation of the Millennium Pipeline in 2008. The reports also state measures were taken to investigate if compounds in groundwater and soil samples were detectable above state standards.
Hang said there could be hazardous oil remaining in the over 300-mile long and aging pipeline. He said the DEC needs to require the entire structure in NY be remediated to state standards.
"It's got to be removed. It's got to meet the applicable cleanup standards. You can't just leave it in the ground -- in the vicinity of water ways, wetlands, and buildings," said Hang.
The DEC responded with the following statement -- provided by the Director of the Office of Media Relations, Erica Ringewald:
"The remediation of the Olean Refinery is being addressed through New York State’s Brownfield Cleanup Program. The State has an Order with ExxonMobil that holds the company responsible for any off-site contamination from the Olean site. In addition, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has a history of holding ExxonMobil responsible for the historic Standard Oil Company refinery operations, including historic refineries in Greenpoint and Queens. DEC will continue to hold ExxonMobil responsible to clean up any contamination in New York State resulting from the Olean, NY, to Bayonne, NJ, pipeline built by Standard Oil in 1881. All reported spills have been addressed or are being addressed."
ExxonMobil is a descendant of the old Standard Oil Company.
On Tuesday, Hang also called upon Governor Andrew Cuomo to adopt a mormatorium, or suspension, on all pipeline approvals in the state.
Activists express concerns over local abandoned pipeline
BINGHAMTON
One of the first fuel pipelines built in the 1800s has some fracktivists concerned about its corrosion and pollution.
Walter Hang, President of Toxics Targeting says the three-hundred mile long vacant pipeline is leaking crude oil into local wetlands, creeks and streams along route 96.
It runs from Olean, New York to the middle of New Jersey occasionally crossing into our area.
It was built in the late 1880s and hasn't been used in decades, but still contains oil.
Hang say the DEC has identified sites along its course where it is seeping out.
The Millennium Pipeline runs adjacent to it and transports natural gas and Hang is fearful that it too will pollute the water.
"This ancient pipeline is a source of massive petroleum contamination. It has to be removed. It has to meet the applicable clean up standards. You just can't leave it in the ground," said Hang.
Hang is also calling on Governor Cuomo to deny all water quality certifications requests for industrial pipeline infrastructure.
Dominion Defends Pipeline As Necessary For New York's Electric Needs
Gas pipeline companies often stake out the trajectories of proposed pipelines.
Credit Mike Groll / AP Photo
Pipeline companies aren’t having a lot of success in New York so far in 2016.
Opponents say they are dirty and continue New York’s over-reliance on fossil fuels, and two projects have already been canceled. A pipeline company representative, however, said the projects are not as harmful as opponents claim and are essential for the state’s current electric needs.
Until recently, expanding and building pipelines was not terribly controversial, as most people agreed that there was a common need to transport oil and gas for fuel and electricity. But that’s different now, particularly in New York state, where two major pipeline projects have been derailed.
First, Kinder Morgan announced it would not build a planned pipeline through portions of New York state and New England, saying market conditions were no longer favorable. The project was facing opposition in multiple states.
Then in April, on Earth Day, Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s environmental agency denied a key permit to the Constitution pipeline, which would have traversed Pennsylvania and upstate New York, saying it could not guarantee that the water nearby would be safe.
Now, a decision on three air-quality permits to build bigger compressors for the New Market-Dominion pipeline has been delayed by the state Department of Environmental Conservation after the agency extended the public comment period.
Frank Mack, the communications project manager for the pipeline, said it’s the final piece of the puzzle in what’s been a 2 1/2-year project. “We’re anxious to get that,” Mack said.
He said the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the state Public Service Commission are backing the pipeline expansion, as is the New York State Independent System Operator, which manages the electric grid.
Mack said the company has purchased 80 to 100 acres around each of the three sites where natural gas air compressors will be built or expanded, and he said the company has a good safety record.
He said additional benefits to upstate New York include hundreds of construction jobs and $66 million in tax payments to economically strapped communities. “It is a New York project, it’s going to be built by New York-based union contractors, and it’s for New York customers, in upstate and downstate New York,” Mack said.
But he said, most importantly, National Grid, which services much of eastern New York, as well as other regions, needs the gas for its customers because wind and solar power is not developed enough yet to provide adequate power supply.
“The need for natural gas is real,” said Mack, who said it can be used as a “bridge fuel” while solar and wind power sources grow. “People have a high demand for energy, and when they flip the switch at home, they expect the electricity to come on,” said Mack.
Mack said it’s estimated that ratepayers will save $20 million because the electric utility won’t have to buy as much imported natural gas.
Opponents disagree. Walter Hang with Toxics Targeting, who has led a letter-writing campaign to the Department of Environmental Conservation, said Cuomo, who pleased activists when he banned hydrofracking in the state, now has a reputation to live up to.
“The governor can’t be a climate-change activist and continue to permit these giant pipelines, giant fossil fuel power plants, gas storage and the like,” Hang said in late September.
Hang and others opposed to the pipeline would like the state to adopt a “moratorium” on all fossil fuel-related projects in New York.
Sean Mahar, a Department of Environmental Conservation spokesman, said the public comment period was extended to “ensure the public had adequate opportunity” to provide input and that the comments will be “considered prior to making any final determination.” The public comment period ended on Sept. 12, over a month ago, but it’s not known when that decision will come.