Pipeline discussion slated for Monday

Bordentown Township officials are scheduled to meet with Williams/Transco representatives on Dec. 6 to discuss the proposed gas pipeline project.

By: William Wichert
   BORDENTOWN TOWNSHIP — Township officials are expected to meet with Williams/Transco representatives on Monday at the municipal complex to discuss the gas pipeline project that has become the subject of a recent federal environmental study.
   In its recent environmental assessment of the proposed project, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) stated that the pipeline would not cause many harmful environmental effects in the township. FERC is now requesting anyone interested in the project to comment on the assessment by Dec. 23.
   But Mayor Gerald Boyer said he wanted to hold his comments for Monday. On Monday, the mayor said he had started reading the assessment, but declined to comment on its contents. Other members of the Township Committee did not return calls for comment.
   In addition to their longstanding environmental concerns, the Township Committee is expected on Monday to question Williams, an Oklahoma-based engineering firm, and its partner, Transcontinental Gas Pipeline Corp., about their need to lay a 36-inch diameter gas pipeline on a 3.77-mile route through Bordentown Township and Mansfield Township.
   The need for this pipeline is to meet the growing demand for natural gas in 112 municipalities and seven counties in southern New Jersey, according to the environmental assessment. If approved, the pipeline would connect to an existing grid in Hamilton Township to service the southern customers.
   The route would mostly run along a multiutility easement near the northbound lanes of the New Jersey Turnpike and avoid homes, businesses and several parcels that are being preserved as open space by the township.
   The environmental assessment states that the construction of the pipeline and its operation would "temporarily disturb" several acres of agricultural and forest land, but that the project would not cause much long-term damage to the natural environment.
   Farmers could lose a crop for a growing season and some wildlife habitats could be displaced, but the pipeline would not harm any of the nine endangered and threatened species that have been found in the area, according to the assessment.