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CONTACT: Center for Biological Diversity Noah Greenwald, (503) 484-7495 |
Injunction Sought to Stop Construction of Ruby Pipeline
PORTLAND, OR - August 19 - The Center for Biological Diversity filed a motion for an injunction today to stop construction of the 677-mile “Ruby” natural-gas pipeline, which would cut across some of the most pristine and remote lands in Wyoming, Utah, Nevada and Oregon. The pipeline would be built by Ruby Pipeline, L.L.C., a subsidiary of the El Paso Corporation, and will trench through more than 1,000 rivers and streams, acutely affecting endangered fish species and fish habitat. It will use more than 400 million gallons of water over the next several years from an arid region. Construction of the pipeline began on July 30 and is proceeding rapidly.
“Construction of the Ruby Pipeline should be stopped until questions about its impact on endangered fish can be answered,” said Noah Greenwald, endangered species program director at the Center. “The rush to build this pipeline is precluding options with lower impacts on endangered fish and other resources.”
The injunction motion is the latest salvo in a lawsuit filed by the Center in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on July 30, challenging the Bureau of Land Management’s decision to issue rights of way on federal lands for the project, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s review of the project’s impacts on endangered species. According to the Service’s biological opinion and other documents, the pipeline will have serious impacts on several endangered fish species, including the Lahontan cutthroat trout and Warner Creek sucker. Yet the Service relied on Ruby’s voluntary mitigation measures, which are not enforceable, in order to find the pipeline’s impacts to be acceptable.
“The pipeline will have serious impacts on the Lahontan cutthroat trout and Warner Creek sucker, as well as a host of other imperiled fish,” said Greenwald. “The El Paso Corporation has not done enough to ensure the Ruby Pipeline won’t jeopardize these highly endangered fish, which have been the subjects of many years of recovery efforts.”
The pipeline will cross 209 streams that serve as habitat for endangered fish. These crossings involve trenching through the stream channel – including, in many cases, blasting. El Paso will use explosives, for example, to blast through Twelvemile and Twentymile Creeks in Oregon — designated critical habitat for the Warner sucker, a fish that is found in only four streams on Earth. The pipeline may also use blasting to trench through 75 streams that serve as habitat for the Lahontan cutthroat trout, while the fish are likely to be present.
“The Ruby Pipeline will cause severe damage to rivers and streams, sensitive habitats for a host of fish and wildlife species, and some of the most pristine lands in western North America,” said Greenwald. “Instead of creating an entirely new path of destruction, an existing pipeline route should have been utilized for this project. But because it wasn’t, mitigation measures and less damaging trenching methods must be required of El Paso.”
2 Comments so far
Show AllExactly, an existing plan already exists....
Hello! I am a UNION pipe fitter waiting for dispatch to the Ruby job! I, and many other UNION members are FED UP with supporting your ultra left agenda, only to have you pull good jobs like the Ruby, Bradwood Landing, and others out from under us! Labor, it seems has NO friends! Certainly not in the two major political parties, and for sure NOT with tea party kooks either! Like it or not, natural gas is a much needed bridge to our future energy independence! Sure, solar and wind power are viable, and more affordable clean alternatives today, but industry still needs much greater quantities of power to function! Like it or not, our economy must PRODUCE products to sustain the status quo, let alone provide any growth! Do you folks REALLY advocate a return to pre industrial economies? I don't think so! Union labor has always had a progressive tilt, and we're proud to have been a part of many successful retrofits of mills and factories with scrubbers to protect our air, and projects designed to allow companies like Intell to prosper, all while ensuring NONE of the nasty chemicals/gasses escape into our environment! Five of my Brother Union members finally prevailed over Fluor-Daniels in a lawsuit over whistle blowing at Hanford Nuclear Site!Those men lost their lively hood, and endured much hardship all because they refused to cut corners, and look the other way! The Alaska pipeline is a wonderful example of what can be achieved when Environmental standards are applied! Wild life thrives in the shadow of that pipeline, in spite of all the chicken littles who cried "the sky is falling!". I bet we have the technology to BURY a gas pipeline in Alaska now, and guess what... It Will happen sooner or later! You Greenies should all hope and pray that there's still a UNION work force to build it, or the Right wing supported special interests will run slip shod over that beautiful wilderness! And stop all the B.S. about how pristine the Ruby pipeline route is! Our western high desert has been invaded by Horses, Burros, and finally, Cattle since the 1600's! I am proud to have been a part of many miles of pipeline, taking thousands of tanker trucks off our highways, all while building the SAFEST, STATE OF THE ART projects! We pipeliners are not a bunch of ignorant, beer-guzzling Bubbas! We are EXPERIENCED, WELL TRAINED CRAFTSMEN AND WOMEN! Some of us live in these affected areas, and many of us enjoy spending quality time Hunting, Fishing, Camping, and otherwise enjoying the land! Would you have folks just drive by, and say "look at the pretty landscape, junior! We aren't allowed to do anything but look, though, so don't even think about touching anything!" Why don't you people do something REALLY beneficial for our environment? How about fighting to make Hemp(Homer Grown, Not necessarily Mary Jane!)legal, so we can produce biofuels and environmentally responsible paper and fabric? Why don't you push for UNDERGROUND utilities, or for every house/business to have SEPERATE systems for disposal of gray water and black water! And don't whine about the wind turbines spoiling your view of the Columbia Gorge! Those Turbines are signs of POSITIVE change!