14 DAY TRIAL // Millennium Pipeline, a company specializing in extracting and distributing natural gas, now plans to build an Industrial Compressor Station fairly close to a residential area in Minisink, New York, which is primarily inhabited by 9/11 first responders and military veterans.
For those unaware, compressor stations are the ones responsible for making sure natural gas gets safely transported from one region to another, and does so by pressurizing the gas until the forces built up within the pipelines cause it to move at the required speeds.
Whilst dealing with natural gas in said manner, one such facility also releases various harmful chemical compounds into the atmosphere and, therefore, significantly threatens both the surrounding environment and public health.
Apparently, roughly 61,000 tons of pollutants get released into the air whenever a compressor station is working at full capacity, and many of these pollutants can be linked to health conditions such as cancer.
Concerned about their own wellbeing and the health of their families, the 9/11 first responders and the military veterans living in the aforementioned neighborhood now ask that high officials get involved and keep this facility from being built.
Backing up their claims, one doctor explains how this particular category of people is all the more vulnerable to the effects of air pollution because the past activities they engaged in had already taken their toll on their bodies.
As the Environmental News Network reports, Vincent Pedre, MD, made a case of how, “These First Responders have already faced severe exposures as part of their work."
Furthermore, “A new exposure like this is surely to lead to further respiratory complications, as well as affect their skin, stomach, nervous system, immune system, and delicate hormone balance, possibly leading to cancer and an increased risk for autism in this region.”
Seeing how both the US FERC (Federal Energy Regulatory Commission) and the NY DEC (New York State Department of Environmental Conservation) have agreed to issue construction permits for this industrial compressor station, there is no telling how things will eventually turn out.