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BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Virginia K. Stowe
Chair
Sarah Jeffords
Vice Chair

Kimberly D. Bose, Secretary

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
888 First Street NE, Room 1A
Washington, DC 20426

Deborah Rivel
Vice Chair

RE: Eastern System Upgrade Project

Docket #: CP16-17-000
Applicant: Millennium Pipeline Company, L.L.C.

Alex Zagoreos
Treasurer

October 24, 2016

Ross Whaley
Secretary

Dear Secretary Bose:

Marsilia Boyle
Polly Bruckmann
Willis DeLaCour
Robert Dryfoos
Margot Ernst
Marian Heiskell
Thomas W. Keesee III
Diane Lewis, M.D.
Anne Manice
Edward Mohlenhoff, Esq.
Laura A.J. ODonohue
Michael OKeeffe
Ross Pepe
Gail Port, Esq.
Nathan Rudgers
Richard Saravay
Victoria Shaw
John Wilkinson

Erin M. Crotty
Executive Director
Constantine Sidamon-Eristoff
Founding Chairman

I am writing in regards to the proposed compressor station for Highland, NY, part of the
Eastern System Upgrade Project, Docket # CP16-17-000. Audubon New York has serious
concerns about this proposed project as it has been sited within an area that has been
recognized as critical bird habitat, the Mongaup Valley Important Bird Area (IBA).
Audubon New York is of the opinion that the Draft Resource Report # 3 of the
Abbreviated Application for a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity dated July
29, 2016, developed by TRC Environmental Consultants on behalf of the applicant,
Millennium Pipeline, LLC, inadequately assesses potential environmental impacts of the
proposed Eastern System Upgrade; and that a much more thorough environmental impacts
assessment through the FERC process is necessary in order to make an informed decision.
IBA designation is determined through a rigorous scientific process led by a committee of
ornithologists and bird experts from across the state. Each recognized IBA meets at least
one of three criteria: a place where birds congregate in large numbers at one time; a place
for species that are at-risk; or a place for an assemblage of species for which New York has
long-term conservation responsibility. New Yorks IBA program identifies sites within the
state that are most important to birds and works proactively for their protection and proper
management. More than 130 IBAs have been identified in New York to date. In addition,
New York State has enacted a Bird Conservation Area (BCA) program, modeled on
Audubons IBA program, to identify and manage publicly-owned lands that are important
to birds. A portion of the Mongaup Valley IBA is among 59 BCAs currently identified by
the state.
The Mongaup Valley IBA, which includes over 50,000 acres in Sullivan and Orange
Counties, was identified as an IBA because it provides significant breeding and wintering
habitat for Bald Eagles, a state-listed bird species (this area has supported some of the
highest concentrations of eagles in New York), and because it is a large, intact tract of
forest habitat that supports a diversity of priority forest birds, including Rose-breasted
Grosbeak, Wood Thrush, Scarlet Tanager, and Black-throated Blue, Blue-winged, and
Canada Warblers, in addition to dozens of other species. Forest IBAs represent the best
breeding habitat for a suite of forest birds of regional conservation responsibility. Forest
intactness is especially important to forest-breeding birds, because they suffer lower nest

predation and nest parasitism and experience higher reproductive success in intact, un-fragmented forests.
Audubons interests are in minimizing fragmentation in forest IBAs, as they represent the most intact
and disproportionately most significant to birds forests in the region.
Based on a close reading of the Draft Resource Report #3 in conjunction with a review of two separate,
independent bird surveys conducted on a volunteer basis by expert birders from the Cornell Lab of
Ornithology on June 17th and again on July 7th, 2016, at forested parcels abutting on the proposed
Highland project site, we have found discrepancies between the Resource Report and the independent bird
surveys. Of particular concern is the Resource Reports cursory and blanket utilization of the 2000-2005
NYS Breeding Bird Atlas to identify species of concern potentially found on the project site without any
actual, verified survey work completed. Breeding Bird Atlas blocks are 5km by 5km in size, and it is
possible that the person who surveyed that block for the atlas was nowhere near the site of this proposed
compressor station. In striking contrast, and based on the recent and independent surveys noted above,
several species of significant concern (including Wood Thrush, Canada Warbler, and Blue-winged
Warbler) are indeed present on the adjacent parcel, as are a remarkable variety and abundance of bird
species across various levels of conservation concern.
At this juncture, Audubon requests that potential impacts to at-risk bird species and priority habitats be
addressed more specifically through actual surveys, as well as through a comprehensive assessment as
part of the FERC process for this project. The information that has been noted in the Resource Report is
inadequate in terms of evaluating potential impacts of this project to birds, other wildlife, and their
habitats. Thorough field surveys, using proper methods and conducted at proper times of the year, should
be conducted on the property where the Highland, NY compressor station is proposed. Surveys for
nesting songbirds should be conducted at least twice during the breeding season (late May through June)
and consist of point counts or transects that saturate the project area. Surveys for nesting raptors, e.g.,
Bald Eagle, should be conducted in late winter and early spring. Finally, we strongly recommend that the
applicant and its environmental consultants work with a biologist in the regional office of the New York
State Department of Environmental Conservations Division of Fish and Wildlife to develop research and
survey methods.
I appreciate your deliberate consideration of the important birds and bird habitat found in this significant
area as you evaluate potential impacts of the Eastern System Upgrade Project.
Sincerely,

Erin M. Crotty
Executive Director