Environmental groups are citing a provision in a 107-year-old transportation law in trying to derail an oil pipeline project from upstate New York to New Jersey.
Daniel Raichel, a lawyer for the Natural Resources Defense Council, says the New York Transportation Corporations Law of 1909 gives villages and cities veto power over oil pipelines through their borders. Since five of the nine cities and villages in the Hudson Valley in the path of the proposed pipeline have passed resolutions opposing the Pilgrim Pipeline project, the environmental groups say further state review is a waste of resources. The project calls for one pipeline carrying crude oil from the Port of Albany to New Jersey refineries, and another carrying refined petroleum north. Pilgrim spokesman Paul Nathanson says the state review was proceeding according to environmental laws. The state Department of Environmental Conservation and Thruway Authority had no comment.
Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
