The League of Women Voters of Western Monmouth, with the full support of the New Jersey League of Women Voters State Natural Resource Committee, opposes a 22-mile-long pipeline in one of New Jersey’s largest and most unique areas: the Pine Barrens. This area comprises 1.1 million acres and is located in the Cohansey Aquifer which holds an incredible 1 trillion gallons of pure water.
The Pinelands Protection Act acknowledged different management areas of the Pine Barrens and allows farming, cluster housing, in most of the acreage, with strict environmental standards to protect the aquifer. Several thousand acres are permanently protected from development. It is through this protected area that the proposed pipeline will travel. The act is very clear and no permission should be granted. In fact, last year the Pinelands Commission, an independent agency charged with protecting the Pinelands, voted no. But this year, the executive director of the Pinelands Commission unilaterally issued a decision without a vote, stating that the pipeline had such unique value to the residents that no vote was necessary. There is no unique value to the residents and other routes can be planned.
The league urges residents to contact the Board of Public Utilities, which will have the final say on this pipeline, to object to permitting the pipeline along this route until a vote of the entire council is taken, and proof of the unique value as well as proof that this is the only route possible. Contact the BPU by email at www.state.nj.bpu, phone, 800-624-0241, or mail, 44 S. Clinton Ave, Trenton, NJ 08625.
Sharon Steinhorn
President
League of Women Voters
of Western Monmouth
Marlboro