To the Editor:

The massive fracked gas pipeline proposal that pipeline company Kinder Morgan/Tennessee Gas Pipeline planned for the Northeast has been officially suspended.

Stop NY Fracked Gas Pipeline, a grassroots group formed over two years ago in opposition to this project, has confirmed this news with several sources. In addition, SNYFGP has seen an official looking document on Kinder Morgan’s letterhead that explained the reasons for the Northeast Energy Direct suspension.

Our opinion from the beginning was that KM/TGP wouldn’t succeed primarily because of current market forces that made gas prices plummet and that made KM/TGP stock price plummet as a result. We believe that this reality, combined with fierce, cumulative and cohesive public opposition in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and New York, was the final straw that broke KM/TGP’s back.

This could not have happened without the combined work of so many organizations and individuals along the proposed NED pipeline. SNYFGP would like to thank our mentors, Rosemary Wessell, founder of No Fracked Gas In Mass; Jane Winn, executive director of  Berkshire Environmental Action Team; and the Stop the Pipeline organization fighting the Constitution Pipeline.

The educational model that SNYFGP created resulted in building support from local towns, county, state, and federal legislators, culminating in Congressman [Chris] Gibson, New York State senators [Kirsten] Gillibrand and [Chuck] Schumer publicly opposing the NED.

Last, but not least, special thanks go to the many, many hundreds of tireless members of SNYFGP who have done the canvassing, distribution of flyers, made phone calls, placed lawn signs, and assisted with the 14 educational public forums held throughout Columbia, Rensselaer, and Albany counties.

But it’s important to remember that, although this project has been suspended, there are many other pipeline projects that are still continuing in New York State and beyond. We must bring the forces we brought to defeat the NED to many of these other projects.

On a personal level, both Becky Meier and myself, the co-founders of SNYFGP, have a great sense of relief and joy that we can now start a new chapter in our lives.  Our plans include, but are not limited to, fostering the growth of renewable energy, efficiency, and conservation. Maybe we’ll have time to just relax.

The apparent demise of the unneeded and unsafe NED project is another nail in the coffin for fossil fuel usage in the USA and beyond. We hope we are witnessing the very end of the stranglehold on energy supplies by the fossil fuel industry and experiencing the beginning of a safer, saner energy future.

Bob Connors and Becky Meier, co-founders

Stop NY Fracked Gas Pipeline

Canaan, New York

Editor’s note: See April 21, 2016 Enterprise story, “Pipeline suspended indefinitely,” online at Altamont Enterprise.com.