Next is Feb. 10 in Bethlehem
Unless the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission reschedules Tuesday’s postponed public hearing on an environmental impact statement for the proposed PennEast natural gas pipeline project, there’ll be nearly a two-break before the last three scheduled public hearings.
Anticipating the major snowstorm, FERC postponed Tuesday’s public hearing at The College of New Jersey, as well as Wednesday’s hearing at Bucks County Community College in Newtown.
Once a new venue is established and scheduled, the commission will issue another notice advising of the new locations and times.
The three scheduled hearings are for Feb. 10-12 — respectively at Northampton Community College in Bethlehem; Penn’s Peak concert center in Jim Thorpe, and the Best Western Hotel and Conference Center in Wilkes-Barre — all in Pennsylvania. All begin at 6 p.m.
State and local officials in Hunterdon County expressed their support for Congressman Leonard Lance’s request that the FERC hold a sixth public hearing in the county.
State senators Kip Bateman and Mike Doherty, and Assembly members John DiMaio, Erik Peterson, Donna Simon and Jack Ciattarelli were joined by county freeholders and mayors asking FERC to add Hunterdon County to the list of sites where a public discussion will take place.
The 105-mile, 36-inch diameter pipeline PennEast proposes to build a 105-mile, from Luzerne County, near Wilkes-Barre, into New Jersey. It will extend through Holland, Alexandria, Kingwood, Delaware and West Amwell townships. The line would cross the Delaware River in the Riegelsville area. It would go through southern Hunterdon County and connect with existing pipeline in southeastern Hopewell Township.
Officials said they agree with Mr. Lance that county residents should have the opportunity to voice concerns about the pipeline’s impact on the environment and quality of life at a sixth meeting in the county. The approval process is expected to take several years with PennEast indicating it expects construction to begin in late 2017.
FERC will use the hearings to determine if “public convenience and necessity” of the project.
Opponents have stressed that the pipeline — which would carry natural gas drawn from the earth by a process called hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking” — would cut across lands that have been preserved as open space in perpetuity under state Green Acres and other purchases.
Proponents say the pipeline will create 2,000 jobs and deliver 1 billion cubic feet of natural gas, enough to heat 4.7 million homes.
It is a chance for opponents to speak face-to-face to the government regulators whose approval is necessary for the project to go forward.
Hopewell Township Mayor Harvey Lester wrote FERC to say his township objects to the date and locations of upcoming FERC meetings.
In his Jan. 14 letter to FERC Chairwoman Cheryl LaFleur, Mayor Lester said the township objected to the Jan. 27 date (not held) of the first meeting at The College of New Jersey. The mayor wrote that FERC’s announcement of the date of that meeting was made “only two weeks prior to the meeting date . . . providing only 14 days to prepare for a meeting which is a significant part of the FERC process . . . is unacceptable.”
Mr. Lester noted that only one of the five meetings would be held in New Jersey.
He also said: “Meetings should be held in an affected community.”