Natural Gas and its newfound concerns

While questionable exploration methods such as hydraulic fracturing have been the cause of much debate in New York for the past months, there is yet another natural gas extraction method sprouting up, that has been raising local eyebrows.

A new pipeline is set to be put into Staten Island by Spectra Energy. The natural gas line will run under parts of New Jersey and New York, and cover the grounds of the latter city’s trendy meatpacking district. The project will create new jobs for the local industry, as well as field the rising demand for natural gas, all while establishing a more efficient delivery system.

Yet the pipeline project has faced massive protests from the residents of NY, who have long since opposed the potentially hazardous exploration industry settling in the city. Safety concerns over the dangers and perils of operating with natural gas have been raised repeatedly, and though natural gas accidents are somewhat rare, a recent blast in the nearby Connecticut that left five dead and millions in damage has the city wary of the pipeline.

The fact that the two cities involved are so dense in their population is triggering much anxiety in the local residents that if an accident was to happen, massive life loss would be sustained. There are more than six schools lying directly over the line’s run, and the local super highways will also have vast parts of them stretching right above the project.

Issues over any potential environmnetal damage that the cities could sustain during the line’s building, as well as in the case of any accidents also pushed many NY and Jersey residents to opposing the gas project. Even the promise of adherence to the more stringent safety regulations in the works after the BP Gulf spill are not sating the people’s worries. Spectra’s own record of safety is not particularly disconcerning. Repeated fines and a few accidents have surrounded the company’s most recent undertakings.

Another concern that the city has is that introducing a pipeline into its grounds would impact the local infrastructure, like water and sewage lines, as well as highway truck pathways.

The opposition has been somewhat balanced by the amount of jobs and revenue that the pipeline will bring to the city still ailing from the lingering recession. Countless city meetings have already been held in NY to discuss the city’s options and alternatives, as well as properly gauge the public’s opinions on the matter.

While a one-year moratorium on the hazardous and wasteful hydraulic fracturing method has been set in place, the debates over the pipeline look like they will persist in the near future. With the growing demand that the city has been showing for natural gas, it is certainly in the company’s best interest to install the quick and easy solution. Yet New York has been outspoken in its drastic opposition to most of the recent and older extraction and delivery methods, and the city’s dire want to protect itself is understandable, in the face of its tragedies, and the recent Gulf of Mexico spill that has shaken up the industry’s standards of safety.