Public meetings are scheduled for 7 p.m. Sept. 29, in Delaware Township at the Sergeantsville Fire Company, and for 7 p.m. Oct. 1, in Holland Township at the Whispering Pines banquet hal
A New Jersey energy company backs the PennEast natural gas pipeline into Hunterdon and Mercer counties, while a local nonprofit environmental group is urging residents to take steps to oppose it.
The PennEast Pipeline Company LLC has announced plans to build a 105-mile, 30-inch natural gas pipeline that would stretch from near Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, to Mercer County, crossing under the Delaware River.
PSEG Power LLC, a subsidiary of the Public Service Enterprise Group, has joined the project as a partner and shipper. The pipeline will transport lower-cost natural gas to homes and businesses, it said.
The nonprofit Sourland Conservancy environmental group says the pipeline will disrupt the fragile ecosystem of the Sourland Mountain region.
The PennEast Pipeline will run from Luzerne County in Pennsylvania to Transco’s Trenton-Woodbury interconnection. The pipeline, which the company projects to go into service in 2017, will transport up to 1 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day — enough to serve about 4.7 million homes, according to Penn East.
Maps released by PennEast show the general route of the pipeline but do not show specific properties that will be affected. A Sourland Conservancy’s map superimposed the proposed route superimposed on a map that shows the preservation status of land parcels in the Sourlands.
Hopewell Township, West Amwell Township and Lambertville are along the proposed route. Public meetings on the pipeline are scheduled for 7 p.m. Monday, Sept. 29, in Delaware Township at the Sergeantsville Fire Company, and for 7 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 1, in Holland Township at the Whispering Pines banquet hall.
While seeking information and assistance from environmental organizations, the most effective voices against the pipeline will be those of residents, the Sourland Conservancy said. It listed steps landowners and residents could take to fight the project.
PSEG Power LLC will have a 12 percent interest in PennEast. Additional pipeline partners include AGL Resources; NJR Pipeline Company, a subsidiary of New Jersey Resources; South Jersey Industries; and UGI Energy Services (UGIES), a subsidiary of UGI Corporation. The other PennEast Pipeline Company members each will have 22 percent interest.
PennEast says it is investing nearly $1 billion to build the pipeline. In addition to providing greater access to lower-cost natural gas, the project will benefit the region’s economy and create local jobs, it says. It estimates that more than 2,000 jobs will be created during the seven-month construction phase.
Preliminary engineering studies have begun, and a formal application will be filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in 2015. UGIES is the project manager for the development of the project and will operate the pipeline.
PennEast has not yet filed an application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission but there are things people can do now, the Sourland Conservancy said.
It suggested:
Landowners, when approached by PennEast for permission to survey and for an easement agreement, have a right to deny surveyors access to their land. They can send the pipeline company a deny or rescind form via certified mail. The form can be found http://bit.ly/stoppenneast.
Landowners can post no trespassing signs.
Post yard signs along roads as an organizing tool for those opposed to the pipeline project.
Landowners should ask for all communications with the pipeline company to be documented in writing.
Landowners who are opposed to the pipeline project should not sign or make any agreements with the pipeline company.
Communities who negotiate with the pipeline company as an organized unit are more effective than trying to negotiate with the pipeline company as an individual.
Citizens concerned about the pipeline project should petition the Delaware River Basin Commission to exercise jurisdiction over the PennEast Pipeline Project. Find the petition at www.delawareriverkeeper.org.
At the township level, townships who are opposed to the pipeline project can pass resolutions opposing the project. Residents can encourage local governments to pass resolutions describing what is important to the town and why the town opposes the project.
Find out if there are threatened or endangered species, such as the bog turtle, along the pipeline route. This information is important and often missed by FERC.
Now is the time to contact municipal, county, and state officials expressing your opposition.
The conservancy says its mission is to protect the fragile and bio-diverse Sourland Mountain region. It maintains the pipeline would "seriously threaten" the Sourland region’s biological diversity, critical forest, wetland and grassland habitats, and "breathing space" in central New Jersey.
There are 8 newly proposed pipelines in New Jersey, and seven of them are in the Delaware Valley, the conservancy said.
"Natural gas pipeline companies are in a rush to build pipelines in order to control the future of energy by promoting the use of more fossil fuels and preventing the development of renewable energy sources. Fighting the PennEast Pipeline is taking a stand against our continued dependence on fossil fuels," the conservancy said in a statement.
Forty-one percent of the Sourland region is preserved — will this land be the target of future pipeline proposals? the conservancy asked rhetorically. It is much cheaper for PennEast to put a pipeline through open space than through a developed area, it notes.
The pipeline would give companies the means to transport the natural gas obtained through fracking in the Marcellus Shale beds of Pennsylvania. Saying "no" to natural gas pipelines equates to saying "no" to fracking and shale gas development, the conservancy said.

