The Town of Woodbury doesn't understand why the Satmar village of Kiryas Joel can build a pipeline and take their water without having all the proper permits and environmental studies in place. (Hint: The answer is that New York State and Orange County are corrupt, and the grease that makes their wheels turn is the bloc vote of Kiryas Joel hasidim.)
The Photo-News adds:
It was a packed house on Thursday, when Supervisor John Burke and Orange County Legislator Roxanne Donnery joined attorney David Gordon to discuss the pipeline currently under construction for the Village of Kiryas Joel and their efforts to stop it.Conflict between the government of Woodbury and its residents and the actions of Kiryas Joel and its leaders deepened as construction crews this spring began burying sections of pipeline for a project that has yet to gain full approval from the state.…
Thursday evening, Burke called the K.J. project a direct threat to the future of Woodbury.…
Efforts to pause the pipeline have themselves been stalled in court.
Supreme Court Judge Francis A Nicolai denied a preliminary injunction that Gordon requested at his first court appearance for Woodbury, Gordon said.
Gordon has since made a formal injunction filing, but Nicolai’s deliberations have gone beyond the 20-day deadline. The judge is still undecided, Gordon said.
Though Woodbury and the adjacent town of Cornwall have joined together to oppose the project, the municipalities have no control over the work because it has be routed across county and state roads, Burke said.
Donnery said that County Executive Ed Diana agreed to give Kiryas Joel the permits it needed to begin building.
“Guess what? There isn’t a darn thing the town can do," Donnery said. "There’s nothing anyone can do about it because the permitting that was given was from our Orange County DPW.”
Burke said that county and state leaders responsible for approving the plans only came to Woodbury after the deal was done.
“It was a conscious decision. It was a strategic decision,” he said.
An attempt to slow the project through public protests by Burke and Donnery prompted attorneys for Kiryas Joel to file suit against them.…
The pipeline project has yet to receive a permit from the state Department of Transportation to extend all the way up Route 32 to its final destination, Gordon said.
“That’s because they haven’t applied,” he said.
[Hat Tip: Seymour.]