Equipment at construction site of gas compressor station sabotaged and stolen

Editor’s Note: This article appeared in the Times Herald Record newspaper from the Hudson River Valley in NY. A local doula in the area reported the story back to a few Earth First!ers on a “No System But the Ecosystem” speaking tour in the northeast—they all found the news more exciting than the author of the article probably intended.

Compressor station equipment hit

MINISINK — Equipment at the building site of a $43 million natural gas compressor station has been sabotaged and stolen, according to the developer, Millennium Pipeline Co.

Millennium spokesman Steve Sullivan said the damage happened post-Hurricane Sandy, sometime between Oct. 28 and Oct. 31, when construction was halted. Several machines — including a bulldozer, an excavator and a large vibratory roller — were damaged, Sullivan said. High-powered hydraulic hoses were pulled out of the equipment, electronics at the site were stolen and other minor damage was done, he said.

A dollar amount of the damage wasn’t available, but Sullivan said workers fixed or replaced the equipment quickly and were still on schedule to get the station online by mid-February. A police report was filed with the Orange County Sheriff’s Office.

“It’s not the kind of behavior we condone,” Sullivan said.

The Millennium project has caused acrimony in the community for more than a year. A citizens group has fought the construction, saying it isn’t appropriate for the Jacobs Road neighborhood. Multiple complaints have been filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission since construction began.

FERC spokesman Craig Cano said the commission is looking at rehearing requests, but no decision has been made and there’s no timeline as to when a decision could come. The station will increase the amount of natural gas to the eastern end of the 168-mile pipeline running from the Southern Tier to the Town of Ramapo.

EF! News Note: Here’s a recent video by a local resident of what construction at the site sounds like every morning: