Yorktown to Receive $1 Million for Three-Month Park Closure

April 10, 2023 – The company that operates the Algonquin Gas Pipeline will pay Yorktown $1,050,000 as compensation for the three-month closure of Woodlands Legacy Fields due to a Christmas sinkhole.

Supervisor Tom Diana negotiated the compensation with Enbridge, the pipeline’s operator.

“Enbridge is making a good-faith payment to the people of Yorktown for inadvertently depriving them of the use of this popular park. I thank Enbridge for its corporate responsibility to communities that are hosts to the company’s pipelines,” said Supervisor Diana.

The park closed on Christmas Eve when a sinkhole formed in the park at the pipeline right-of-way. After an analysis, Enbridge subsequently poured fill materials into the sinkhole to ensure the support for the pipeline. Enbridge officials are scheduled to attend a Town Board meeting on April 18 to report on their response.

As part of Enbridge’s safety monitoring, the company will conduct semi-weekly aerial patrols of the gas line right of way, monthly site visits and electrical resistance surveys to ensure that new sinkholes do not form.

The reopening of the park on April 1 coincided with the beginning of little league baseball games at the park.

Enbridge’s natural gas network moves about 20 percent of all gas consumed in the U.S. Its gas transmission and midstream pipelines cover about 73,796 miles in 30 U.S. states, five Canadian provinces and offshore in the Gulf of Mexico.

Photo caption: Councilman Ed Lachterman, far left, and Supervisor Tom Diana, far right, stand with Town employees at Woodlands Legacy Fields on March 31, 2023. Photo courtesy of the Town of Yorktown.