Politician Promotes Pipeline Protection Proposals

Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer, D-Sunnyside, touted proposals that he said would reduce explosions and promote pipeline safety throughout New York City at a press conference in Sunnsyide earlier this week.

In the City Council, Van Bramer recently advanced a bill, Intro. 242, that would require companies to notify local first responders, such as firehouses and EMS personnel, before drilling near flammable materials in residential areas.

Van Bramer is also supporting Assemblywoman Cathy Nolan's efforts on a bill in the State Legislature that would increase fines for companies which do not call New York State's mandatory "Dig Safely" hotline, 8-1-1, to learn about underground pipelines before starting construction projects. The minimum fine for failing to call 811 would be $2,500 for the first offense, Van Bramer said, but would climb as high as $15,000 for additional infractions.

"If you dig, find out if there's a pipeline first," Van Bramer said. "People should not have to pay with their lives. ... We've got to have the companies call the [811] number."

Van Bramer described a November 2009 East Side Access construction activity on Skillman Avenue near 38th Street that punctured an underground pipeline, causing more than 500 gallons of jet fuel to spew onto Sunnyside streets. He also mentioned a February blowout that shook houses in Hanoverton, Ohio, and another recent pipeline blast in Pennsylvania's Allentown that killed five people.

The press conference took place in front of Tornsey Playground, which lies near the intersection of 43rd Street and Skillman Avenue and just above an underground Buckeye Partners pipeline that supplies jet fuel to LaGuardia and JFK airports.

A Saturday greenmarket fills the block during the warm weather months, an early childhood education center is on the other side of the intersection, and hundreds of people live in nearby houses and apartment buildings.

Van Bramer emphasized that his bill should become law as soon as possible, because a capital project to renovate the park is set to begin later this year.

Sunnyside resident and businessperson Dorothy R. Morehead, who chairs local Community Board 2's Environment Committee, also spoke at the event, stressing that underground pipelines are positive in that they keep oil-delivery trucks off local streets, but they shouldn't be dangerous.

"We don't oppose having a pipeline if it's operated safely," she said.