For Immediate Release
Contact: Jeff Tittel, NJ Sierra Club, 609-558-9100
Today during the Pinelands Commission September public meeting, Commissioner Lohbauer mentioned that he would like to make site location visits where the 6 spills occurred during the construction of New Jersey Natural Gas’s Southern Reliability Link pipeline at Joint Base. He asked the staff for assistance on letting him know where the sites are and for the necessary permission. He emphasized the need to abide by COVID-19 precautions.
“Commissioner Lohbauer is right, there needs to be a visit to NJNG’s spill sites at Joint Base. However, there must be an investigation on why these spills happened and why Nancy Whittenberg did not disclose them to the Pinelands Commission or DEP. NJNG’s SRL pipeline has destroyed houses, wetlands, and infiltrated chemicals into groundwater along its route in Monmouth, Ocean, and Burlington County. There have been over 14 incidents along the SRL route and it seems the more we keep looking into the pipeline, the worse it gets. The Pinelands Commission needs to put a stay on the SRL pipeline until all of these incidents are investigated and to stop this disastrous and unneeded pipeline. More importantly, they need to hold Nancy Whittenberg accountable for withholding information about SRL incidents to the Commission and misleading them,” said Jeff Tittel Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club.
During the Pinelands Commission August meeting, Commissioner Lohbauer raised concerns about how there was information of 6 spills caused by HDD drilling for NJNG’s SRL pipeline that was not reported to the Commissioners. Lohbauer asked Nancy Whittenberg why this information was not reported and why the Commission did not have the opportunity to vote on suspending NJNG’s HDD permits. Whittenberg replied, “The commission allowed New Jersey Natural Gas for inadvertent returns in their permit,” After 5 incidents were reported from construction of the SRL, Whittenberg did said, “I thought about letting Commissioners know but NJNG complied with the permit and it happened over in a quick couple of days, and that was that.”
“The Pinelands Commission needs to investigate why Nancy Whittenberg misled the Pinelands Commission several times. She deliberately said that when the Commission voted on permits for SRL, they allowed for spills and inadvertent returns (IR). That is a lie. Since when are spills destroying houses, blowing through wetlands, and infiltrating chemicals into groundwater. Incidental return has no meaning in the law or under the Clean Water Act. The CWA does not recognize what an IR is. This is called an illegal discharge and is in violation of the Clean Water Act under New Jersey. It cannot be permitted,” said Tittel. “Whittenberg is supposed to report incidents and she deliberately failed to do so. Her withholding information violated the public trust and her oath in office. Had the Commission known about the spills in the Pinelands, they may have decided to act instead of denying our stay. We believe given what is happening in the Pinelands with the 5 spills, the Commission should also put in a stay and work to rescind their approval of the Pipeline.”
During July’s Pinelands Commission meeting, members of the public were surprised to hear that five additional IR incidents had been reported in 2019. The new reports show that the five incidents occurred within the Pinelands portion of Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst. The first incident reported on January 31, 2019 discharged 444 gallons into adjacent wetlands. On February 4, 2019 about 80 gallons of slurry were discharged into wetlands. On February 7, 2019 two separate IRs yielded about 490 gallons that were discharged. On February 8, 2019 about 100 gallons were discharged at the same station. There have been reports along the SRL pipeline route in Monmouth, Ocean, and Burlington county about problems with the building of the pipeline. These include suspected spills, sinkholes, and materials from drilling in streams and ditches.
“When the state granted NJNG their general permits for HDD, DEP determined that it would have no impact or de minimus impact on the environment. However, 14 incidents have now occurred which is why the DEP put in a stop work order. A resident’s home in Upper Freehold has been destroyed and several incidents have happened in Monmouth, Ocean, and Burlington County along the route,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “We are concerned about the security and integrity of the pipeline. We are even more concerned about the integrity of Nancy Whittenberg. That is why Governor Murphy needs to put a stop work order on the entire pipeline and pull the permits. That will give us time to have our day in court and for the state to conduct a thorough investigation to fix and deal with any problems from the pipeline.”