.The school is just 400 feet from the path of a massive new pipeline expansion project that’s being carried out by Spectra Energy, an oil and gas infrastructure company based in Houston. The Algonquin pipeline expansion is one of at least 22 pipeline projects designed in recent years to transport natural gas from shale fields across the U.S. to distribution points in the Northeast.
But the noise isn’t the only thing troubling local residents like Williams. The pipeline will run within several dozen feet of electrical infrastructure necessary to operate Indian Point, an aging nuclear plant on the Hudson River. Residents worry that if the pipeline were to rupture, it could trigger a chain of events that might end in a nuclear meltdown, devastating their communities and turning New York City into a radioactive evacuation zone.
“It will be a catastrophe,” said Williams, a cancer researcher and mother of two small children. “With [the pipeline] 400 feet from my front door, 400 feet from my kids’ elementary school, worrying about the worst case scenario is something I do on a routine basis.”
While the chances of a nuclear accident are low, locals say that Spectra, in its haste to begin construction, misled them about what’s happening in their backyards. Some were angry to learn of the project second-hand, from neighbors. Nuclear and pipeline safety experts working with the nearby town of Cortlandt allege that Entergy, the owner of Indian Point, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), the federal agency responsible for nuclear power plant safety, have provided overly rosy assessments of Spectra’s ability to respond should the pipeline rupture. Adding to residents’ anguish are the accounts of two whistleblowers, inspectors involved in the pipeline’s construction and safety, who described incidents they saw involving Spectra employees as violations of basic safety and quality standards.