By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
Pipeline company Williams still needs to finish restoring parts of Princeton that were disturbed this year when the company installed a new 42-inch natural gas pipeline through about a one and ½ -mile stretch of town.
The company started that restoration earlier this summer by reseeding for grass, said municipal engineer Robert V. Kiser by phone on Tuesday. That work will also include planting wildflowers, and trees in riparian areas — both of which will start in the fall, he said.
He said the company already repaired roads that either were damaged or had to be dug up.
Company spokesman Christopher L. Stockton said Tuesday that the company is pleased with the restoration that has taken place so far. He said there are “very little signs that we were there.”
The Oklahoma-based company is about halfway through installing a pipeline through around 30 miles of New Jersey and Pennsylvania to be able to transport natural gas from the Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania. Work began in the spring. The company expects to turn on the new line by the end of the year, Mr. Stockton said.
Groups including the New Jersey Sierra Club had opposed the new line amid concerns the project would have on the environment. Aside from Princeton, the line runs through parts of Somerset and Hunterdon counties, including neighboring Montgomery.
The company already owns and operates a natural gas pipeline that goes through Princeton.
Williams has offered residents replacement trees on a 4 to 1 basis for any trees that had to be taken down on their property as a result of the project. Mr. Kiser said that in about a handful of cases, residents have approached the town offering the municipality the trees since they cannot accommodate that many trees on their property.
“No decisions have been made with regard to donating excess trees,” Mr. Stockton said later in the day by email. “It is being considered.”
