Many in South Brunswick have voiced an opinion as to where Williams Co. should build the compressor station planned for Franklin Township. This should not become a “not in my backyard” battle between townships, but rather townships should join forces in the fight to shut down the Transco Northeast Supply Enhancement project entirely.
The federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration is not staffed to oversee the millions of miles of pipelines across the country. When asked this question at the Williams Open House on June 28 in Somerset, a guarded Williams representative tried to explain that Williams inspects its own pipelines for safety every seven years.
The Franklin compressor, with the newly constructed pipeline connecting into Williams’s existing old pipeline in Trap Rock, is intended to speed up the flow of gas, through old and corroded pipelines that crisscross New Jersey. Some of these pipelines have not been maintained since before the 1970s. A higher velocity of gas forced through corroded pipelines is suspected to be the cause of the explosion outside Pittsburgh in April.
One begins to doubt the stability of Williams as a company, after half of its board members resigned this past week in a leadership dispute. The uncertainty of Williams’s future, in today’s turbulent gas environment, casts a shadow on this project. Franklin Township does not need another Superfund site.
New Jersey will not benefit from the additional gas from the Franklin compressor as it is destined for New York. Why, then, should we allow more pipelines in New Jersey after the Constitution Pipeline, planned to cross New York State transporting gas on its way to New England, was shut down by Gov. Andrew Cuomo. In addition, allowing the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to continue approving these gas pipelines and compressors, only encourages more fracking.
Dirty fossil fuels should be left in the ground. New Jersey needs clean renewable energy reducing the emissions and other toxins that damage our health and climate.
The only way to reverse course is if everyone reaches out to elected officials to tell them no more pipelines in New Jersey and likewise, with comments on the FERC website.
Elizabeth Roedell
South Brunswick