EPA Admin. Zeldin visits Binghamton, sparks protest opposing Constitution Pipeline

BINGHAMTON, N.Y. (WBNG) -- Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin made a stop in Binghamton Monday morning, advocating for New York State to change course on its energy initiatives.

He is urging the state to roll back its 2014 ban on natural gas extraction, including fracking.

“It’s not like we don’t use natural gas and we’re proposing some new energy source that is controversial, and we’re not used to it,” Zeldin said. “It is our primary source of energy right now, natural gas.”

Zeldin is also pushing the state to move forward with the controversial Constitution Pipeline project.

It’s a 125-mile-long pipeline that would transport fracked natural gas from Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, to Schoharie County, New York, passing through Broome, Chenango and Delaware counties.

“It’s better for our environment and to be able to build this pipeline and create the jobs that come with it,” Zeldin said. The benefits from the environment to the economy are so strong.”

The EPA administrator said transporting gas through this pipeline would be an upgrade over doing it by truck or by train, providing financial stability in the process.

“When you tap into resources here, when you build these pipelines, these are jobs, good-paying jobs,” Zeldin said. “It helps with revenue for local communities. There’s a benefit for the state fiscally.”

Zeldin’s presence in the southern tier didn’t come without objection.

“We’re here today to say no fracking way. Get the frack out of our state,” yelled Renee Vogelsang, the New York Director for Frack Action. “These are our state rights.”

Hours after the former Long Island congressman left the Broome County courthouse, dozens of environmental advocates gathered outside City Hall demanding the state uphold the fracking ban it imposed more than a decade ago.

“12 years ago, we knew that kids who live near fracking sites had higher rates of leukemia,” said Sandra Steingarber, the co-founder at Concerned Health Professionals of New York. “We have more evidence for that now, and we also know that kids who live near fracking sites have birth defects and they get asthma more often.”

Those who came to protest reject Zeldin’s pitch for the pipeline, saying it serves only to benefit America’s oil and gas industry, including Political Director at Citizen Action New York, Ravo Root.

“[The pipeline is] about helping fossil fuel corporations lock us into decades more dependence on gas while threatening our air, our soil and our water,” said Root. “Shame on them.”

The state Department of Environmental Conservation has the authority under Section 401 of the Clean Water Act to not issue permits to projects it deems dangerous to water. Zeldin has proposed plans to roll back some of the regulations in this clause.