North Brooklyn Pipeline raises environmental justice concerns

By Helen Gloege ’23

Staff Writer


Hydraulic fracturing, more commonly known as fracking, is the process used to remove natural gas from shale rock. The Environmental Protection Agency reported that special technology must be used because natural gas is “highly dispersed in the rock” rather than concentrated like oil. Natural gas can then be transferred by land through methods like pipelines, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Currently, in Brooklyn, New York, there is a dispute over a National Grid pipeline that originally began construction in 2017, according to The Guardian. The fracked gas pipeline is officially called the Metropolitan Reliability Infrastructure and is more commonly referred to as the North Brooklyn Pipeline. The pipeline’s existence has been questioned on the basis of climate change and environmental justice concerns.

The pipeline is an entirely new build by the National Grid, according to the Sane Energy Project. The Sane Energy Project noted that the expansion charges “the taxpayers millions of dollars in rate hikes,” meaning the members of the Brooklyn neighborhood will be paying for the pipeline to be built. In late 2021, 31 officials from NY wrote a letter in an attempt to persuade the governor to prevent pipeline construction, according to Energy News Network. The letter, as quoted by the Energy News Network, places the rate hikes in the context that “New Yorkers owe nearly $2 billion in unpaid debt to corporate utilities,” and that “1.9 million customers” will pay for this pipeline and related projects. According to Energy News Network, at this point in time, the North Brooklyn Pipeline has “four of five phases already operational,” with a current hold on the fifth. The debate over the North Brooklyn Pipeline comes in the context of the cancellation of the application for the Albany Loop pipeline early this year, as described by Times Union. 

Natural gas is a fossil fuel and is responsible for producing greenhouse gasses when burned for fuel, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The building and use of the North Brooklyn Pipeline pipeline contradicts the state’s environmental goals to reduce or stop greenhouse gas emissions. Robert Connors, the founder of Stop NY Fracked Gas Pipeline, said in a Times Union article that the Albany Loop pipeline “ran counter to the state’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act.” The publication describes the Act as a “2019 law that requires the state to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 85 percent in 2050.” According to The City has reported that environmental groups are also referring to this Act in opposition to the North Brooklyn Pipeline. The Department of Environmental Conservation has used the Act before “when it denied a permit from the energy company NRG to replace an old peaker plant … with a newer — but still gas-powered — plant in Astoria, Queens,” according to The City. Several groups trying to prevent pipeline construction “want to end all construction of fossil fuel infrastructure to reduce carbon and other emissions,” according to the Gothamist. The Gothamist has looked at the alternatives to relying on natural gas provided by the pipeline, like “electrifying heat sources” and businesses “helping Brooklyn residents transition to climate-friendly heating.” These may provide alternative energy sources that don’t rely on the pipeline.

This project creates several environmental justice concerns as it directly impacts the community where the pipeline is being constructed, as described by the Gothamist. The pipeline’s start site is in Brownsville, which is a majority Black neighborhood, according to The Guardian. The Guardian also reported that the seven-mile pipeline “zigzags through predominately Black and Latino neighborhoods, by bypassing whiter, wealthier parts of Brooklyn.” In response, local groups, such as Brownsville Green Justice and Sane Energy Project, along with other groups, have protested in many different forms since 2017 — for example, people have “chained themselves to a construction site, and organized a gas bill strike,” Grist reported. A resident of Brownsville and member of the Brownsville Green Justice Group, Fabian Rogers, told the NY Daily News that the building of the pipeline is “just another example of how communities of color [who] have historically borne the burden of environmental racism continue to pay the price.” 

The location of the pipeline can also impact the community’s health and safety. Grist stated that these residents “are already overburdened with disproportionate environmental injustices like exposure to particulate air pollution and vulnerability to high temperatures” because of where they live. New York City has a local law that delineates part of the city into “Environmental justice areas,” which, according to The Guardian, are defined as “neighborhoods long overburdened with toxic hazards from a history of racist policies.” On top of that, Grist reported that residents “have said that they only learned about the pipeline after it was built,” sparking anger amongst the community for not having been previously consulted regarding the pipeline’s construction.

During summer 2021, activists against the North Brooklyn Pipeline filed “a complaint against the utility and state” on the grounds that the pipeline violated “Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act,” according to The Guardian. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act says that “no person in the United States shall … be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.” The pipeline is federally funded, so activists are arguing that it should be illegal because “the pipeline has resulted in racial discrimination,” according to The Guardian.

Energy News Network has reported that “the complaint is under review by the US Environmental Protection Agency, but no decision about an investigation has yet been made.” At this point, there is still no decision from the EPA about whether there will be an investigation and if the fifth phase of the pipeline will be approved.