Our Lives are on the Line: Protestors Blockade Planned Pipeline Site Near Nuclear Plant Outside NYC

As reported by Democracy Now!:

In Peekskill, New York, just about an hour north of New York City, residents have launched a blockade in efforts to stop the construction of a gas pipeline slated to run only hundreds of feet from the aging Indian Point nuclear power plant. The proposed project has sparked concerns from residents and nuclear experts that a pipeline break could cause a catastrophic nuclear disaster that would threaten the entirety of New York City. The pipeline is being built by Spectra Energy and is officially known as the Algonquin Incremental Market Project, or AIM pipeline. Well, only hours ago, Peekskill residents and activists escalated the campaign to stop this pipeline’s construction by installing a fully sustainable shipping container at the entrance of Spectra’s work yard—complete with two activists living inside [see photo, above]. Democracy Now! was there as the blockade was launched. (Emphasis added)

The video of the news broadcast, as well as the transcript, are posted on Democracy Now!'s website.

Democracy Now! interviews Paul Blanch, an expert on nuclear power safety with decades of experience. Blanch and other interviewees discuss the risks to 20 million people within a 50-mile radius of Indian Point, should the pipeline release high-pressure fracked natural gas, and/or explode.

The interview also mentions the emergency petition just filed by Friends of the Earth (FOE) at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), seeking to block Indian Point Unit 2's restart next month, as well as to force the shutdown of Unit 3 for an emergency inspection. FOE demands assurance that the root cause of unprecedented levels of safety-significant bolt degradation in Unit 2's reactor core be understood and addressed, before reactor restart. FOE also demands that Indian Point's owner, Entergy Nuclear, be required by NRC to inspect the currently operating Unit 3 reactor for similar, or perhaps worse, bolt degradation.