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"Energy is one of the necessities of life," notes Rev. John Close -- but transporting the raw materials for energy via rail cars and pipelines that cross the Albany Diocese is worrisome for some area residents.

Crude oil trains at the Port of Albany and traveling through Saratoga and Rensselaer Counties have drawn public protests after accidents in the U.S. and Canada that derailed trains and devastated towns.

Now, a proposed natural gas pipeline would affect parishioners of Father Close's parishes -- Immaculate Conception parish in New Lebanon, its mission church of St. Joseph's in Stephentown and St. Mary's parish in Nassau -- as well as Sacred Heart in Castleton.

"The Tennessee Gas Pipeline Company [TGPL] has an easement right through the middle of our cemetery property," noted Rev. Thomas Krupa, pastor of Sacred Heart.

Hot topic
That land is part of a 42-acre plot given to the parish in the 1980s, now down to 30 acres after the parish sold off some. The acreage is 10 miles away from the church and the long-standing easement is in an undeveloped section of the cemetery land, but the issue is still "really big in this area," Father Krupa said. "It's quite a hot topic; [the proposed pipeline] would go right through the town of Schodack."

If the pipeline gets the go-ahead, he added, "It will go right through our property, and we will not gain any financial benefit from this."

The pipeline has been controversial not just because of residents' concerns over possible dangers, but because it would carry some natural gas obtained through the process of hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking." The process involves drilling down 6,000 to 9,000 feet into the ground and injecting pressurized water to force gas up to the surface.

Hydrofracking is banned in New York, but the gas in the proposed pipeline would come from Pennsylvania, where the process is legal, and be headed for Massachusetts, with most of it earmarked for export. Father Close and Father Krupa said some residents of their towns are upset that the pipeline would have no local economic benefit.

Sacred Heart was notified some time ago that TGPL would be surveying their land for the pipeline. "It was something we couldn't stop. They had the legal right to do it," Father Krupa said. The parish alerted parishioners through a bulletin announcement about the survey and about public informational meetings by TGPL's parent company, Kinder Morgan.

Get informed
Mark Brockley attended those meetings and did research on the pipeline project. He serves as both music director and facilities manager for Sacred Heart, so he felt he should be informed so he could help parishioners understand the proposal.

"I'm divided on the issue," he told The Evangelist. "There's been all kinds of meetings, letter-writing -- all kinds of stuff. We just urge parishioners to become informed and get involved."

So far, Mr. Brockley sees public sentiment leaning toward the negative. Commuting to the church from his home in East Nassau, he travels part of the route the pipeline would cover; on the lawns of the homes he passes, "I haven't seen a positive sign [supporting the project] yet."

Father Close, too, went to public meetings to learn about the pipeline and people's concerns. His Stephentown mission church is about a half-mile from the pipeline's proposed path -- what he called the "danger zone" that would be evacuated in the case of a rupture. A third of the parish, or about 50 or 60 families, attend St. Joseph's Church.

The pastor said some people are worried that TGPL might do only initial maintenance and then become lax about ongoing monitoring of the pipeline. Residents also want to make sure that, if there were a leak, the area's emergency services could handle the situation.

"To see that safety is first and foremost is one of their concerns," Father Close explained, recalling a 1962 propane explosion on a tractor-trailer in the town of Berlin that killed nine people. The priest was a young first responder back then, along with his grandfather, and has never forgotten "a scene resembling World War II or Vietnam, with every building on fire."

He said both TGPL and people living in the pipeline's path "need to be looking at the reality that, no matter where this pipeline goes, there is a danger. They need to have safeguards in place in terms of distance from populated areas."

Where to go
But "you're not going to get everybody to agree on a proper place," he added.

Just as people sometimes voice "not in my backyard" objections to a group home or a shelter for the homeless opening in their community, "if we go 100 percent with that attitude, we're saying all of these [pipelines, oil trains and the like] will have to be out in the wilderness. Is that practical? No."

Father Krupa is taking a similar "get informed, then wait and see" position.

"I'm not preaching on it or taking a stand. I'm letting the people take the lead," he stated.

So far, he thinks the majority of the 650 households in his parish are not in favor of the pipeline. As for the fracked natural gas, Mr. Brockley said he's not "personally opposed to fracking.

"I'm the son of a scientist," he said. Hydrofracking "is why gas is cheap and we're becoming independent from the Middle East, which is a good thing."

On the other hand, he noted, many residents are concerned about the compressor that would pump the gas through the pipeline, which he's heard will run 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and will make as much noise as a jet engine.

Keep calm
Some Sacred Heart parishioners have advised Father Krupa to deny access to the cemetery property, since equipment would have to go over the land to dig in the easement.

"I hope it never comes to that -- that we never have any kind of confrontation," the priest said.

"I have a feeling it's not going to go through," Mr. Brockley said of the project.

Father Close concluded that, if the pipeline project comes to fruition, "We need to make sure we're doing this in a safe, responsible manner, and make sure it impacts the fewest people possible."[[In-content Ad]]

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