Proposed Rockaways pipeline angers locals

A three-mile natural gas pipeline in Rockaway, Queens, has community groups up in arms, Crain’s reported. Despite the fact that the pipeline would provide a cheaper and “greener” energy supply to the area, residents said they are concerned about safety and angry they were not consulted earlier.

The proposed pipeline would run undersea towards the shore, then get deeper near the Rockaways before emerging above ground in the middle of Floyd Bennett Field in Gateway National Park. It would then continue deeper in to Brooklyn.

“In the past year, we’ve had two public meetings discussing the future of Floyd Bennett Field, and none of this was mentioned,” Don Riepe, a co-chair of the northeast chapter of the American Littoral Society, a non-profit that surveys coastal waters, told Crain’s. “We realize the benefits — but we’re just going to wait and see what the environmental impacts are.” [Crain’s]