For Immediate Release
Media Contact: Taylor.McFarland@sierraclub.org
The Sierra Club- NJ Chapter joined the Delaware River Keeper Network along with other environmental groups and advocates at a rally urging Governor Murphy to stop the PennEast Pipeline. In a recent 5-4 decision in the case of PennEast vs. New Jersey, the U.S. Supreme Court found that private pipeline developers can use the federal government’s eminent domain powers to take land from states.
“PennEast is trying to use every option they have to destroy preserved land, farmland, and state parks. The pipeline would threaten more than 88 waterways, 44 wetlands, 30 parks, and 33 conservation easements with leaks, explosions and pollution. It would cross over important waterways including the Delaware River and Delaware & Raritan Canal,” said Taylor McFarland, Acting Director of the Sierra Club- NJ Chapter. “Now that PennEast can use eminent domain to take state land, it’s more important than ever that Governor Murphy steps up and stops this pipeline by denying its 401 Water Quality Permit.”
Developers of the PennEast pipeline had been relying on this authority to build their 116-mile project, which would ship fracked Marcellus Shale gas from Northeast Pennsylvania, across the Delaware River to New Jersey, where it would likely be sold to be burned in foreign countries.
“This pipeline is unnecessary and dangerous. It’s about greed, not need. This is a serious project that will affect many people on both sides of the river. We have been fighting the PennEast pipeline for the past 6.5 years, and we will keep on fighting to make sure this unnecessary project will never be put in the ground! Governor Murphy, help us protect our environment and public health by stopping the PennEast Pipeline once and for all,” said Taylor McFarland, Acting Director of the Sierra Club- NJ Chapter.