For Immediate Release
Contact Jeff Tittel, 609-558-9100
August 12th was the third anniversary of PennEast’s proposal for their pipeline. NJ Sierra Club joined with Delaware Riverkeeper Network, Berks Gas Truth, and the Pipeline Safety Coalition to fight the pipeline and organize the community. PennEast thought that they would be breaking ground two years ago, yet still haven’t even applied for New Jersey permits. We held town meetings and helped form local CCAPS. We soon realized that we were on to something when meetings in Delaware or Holland Twps. would draw 400 or 500 people. There was a real opposition to this project and through education and outreach, we have watched it grow into a powerful force. We helped build a grassroots rebellion that has been working for the past three years and has become Sierra Club’s national model in educating communities on how to fight pipelines.
“We are proud of our work delaying and fighting the PennEast Pipeline for the last three years. Since the beginning, our strategy against PennEast has been encouraging people to oppose the pipeline altogether. While other groups advocating moving it, we knew that the only way to truly stop PennEast was to oppose it in any form. If you support moving a pipeline, then you support the pipeline and you lose the battle. The PennEast pipeline will not only our waterways but forests, open space, and farmland. Even worse, pipelines like PennEast will promote fracking; cause water and air pollution, and contribute to climate change. We encouraged landowners to not let PennEast on their property to survey and to put up signs telling them ‘no trespassing, no survey, no pipeline,’” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “We must fight even harder since FERC has regained a quorum and PennEast is pushing for an expedited application process with FERC.”
PennEast has submitted a request for an expedited application process and Sierra Club has sent a letter asking the Federal Regulatory Energy Commission (FERC) not to accept this request. The New Jersey Sierra Club believes that FERC must reject PennEast’s request for an expedited process on their pipeline application and deny the application altogether. The PennEast Pipeline is 110-mile pipeline that will bring natural gas from the Marcellus Region of Pennsylvania through Hunterdon and Mercer Counties in New Jersey. The pipeline will be cutting through communities, preserved open space, and farmland.
“PennEast expected to break ground two years ago but we have held them off. The reason PennEast has been held up is because of the great job local citizen and activists have been doing. The property owners along the route are the real heroes of this battle. Other groups may have entered the fight a year and a half later, but we believe that it was the earlier work that’s really slowed this pipeline down. Faced with trespassing and even harassment, they have stood strong against PennEast. Over 65 percent of the route has yet to be surveyed due to resistance from landowners. That’s why the DEP rejected their water permits, saying there is not enough information for them to evaluate land use permits and their application is deficient. The DEP’s rejection will delay any Determination of Completeness until next Administration,” said Jeff Tittel.
The Senate voted to confirm Donald Trump’s nominees for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), Neil Chatterjee and Rob Powelson. FERC can have a maximum of three members from the same political party of their five-member board. The Trump Administration is working to stack FERC to make it Republican-majority. This way FERC can rubberstamp the hundreds of dangerous fossil fuel projects across the country. New Jersey has over fifteen pipeline proposals and even more compressors stations that would do unnecessary harm to the environment including PennEast and the Garden State Expansion.
“Due to the Fossil Fool in the Whitehouse, a new serious threat is facing PennEast and other pipelines nationally. Donald Trump’s new Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) members were approved, giving the agency a quorum. With this quorum, FERC has a pro-gas Republican bias. They once again have the power to approve dangerous pipelines such as PennEast. FERC could give PennEast a Certificate of Necessity to allow PennEast to go on people’s property and get the data they need for the permits,” said Jeff Tittel.
The DRBC controls the region within the river basin and manages water quality, withdrawals, droughts, floods, conservation and permitting for the river and its tributaries. The surface water withdrawal and discharge permit that PennEast has applied for to the DRBC would allow them to conduct hydrostatic testing and horizontal directional drilling. This method has recently caused water contamination in Pennsylvania. For two years we’ve been asking the DRBC to have a separate process from FERC and to hold multiple hearings as part of it. After two years of public pressure, they’ve finally agreed. We believe that the DRBC should throw out PennEast’s EIS as junk and deny all permits.
“We always knew it was going to be hard to deal with FERC in this battle, and that is why we are focusing our efforts on stopping PennEast, especially through the NJDEP. PennEast can still be stopped completely if the DEP denies them a 401 Water Quality Certificate. We do not believe they can be granted this because of the damage the pipeline would have to waterways. Other government agencies like Army Corps, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, DRBC that have issues with this pipeline. They have all said PennEast doesn’t have enough surveys and is missing critical information,” said Jeff Tittel.
The PennEast Pipeline would threaten the entire Valley including 91 acres of wetlands and over 44 miles of forest; over 1,600 acres’ total. This is a serious project that will affect many people on both sides of the river. PennEast Pipeline also does not even have enough information for necessary permits required from NJDEP. The PennEast Pipeline violates the Clean Water Act and cannot meet the criteria for 404 permits. Also, we believe that this pipeline cannot meet the requirement for a 401 water quality permit. The reason is because of the amount of high quality streams, wetlands, and rivers it is crossing through. Many of these streams carry anti-degradation criteria. The route will cut areas with steep slopes having a bigger impact on streams because of siltation and runoff.
“We’ve had many victories over the past three years but there is plenty of work ahead of us. The PennEast Pipeline would threaten the entire Valley including 91 acres of wetlands and over 44 miles of forest; over 1,600 acres’ total. This is a serious project that will affect many people on both sides of the river. The Christie Administration has weakened important rules and regulations such as the Flood Hazard Rules. Under the next Governor, we can stop these rollbacks and restore stronger protections for our waterways and environment!” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “We must redouble our efforts to stop this pipeline by challenging FERC, getting the DRBC to throw out their application, and electing a Governor to reject their DEP 401 application. We need to stand together to tell PennEast to stay the FERC out of our valley!”