From The Jersey Sierran, July - September 2022
By Patricia Hilliard, Conservation Chair, Hudson County Group
In recent years the Sierra Club has participated in numerous battles to protect the Delaware River and its watershed. Protection was needed from destruction of native fish species by power plants, pipeline construction, gas industry drilling, and sewage discharge. Changes in the energy market are now forcing a continuation of the struggle. Here is what’s happened and what’s next.
In 2013, a coalition of environmental groups including the Delaware Riverkeeper Network and the NJ Chapter of the Sierra Club took legal action to defend the Delaware River from two power plants operating with expired permits: Salem Nuclear Power Plant and Delaware City Refinery. The Mercer Generating Station, also with an expired permit, was put on watch.
Each year, billions of fish and fish larvae were destroyed by the water intake cooling systems of these power plants. The Clean Air and Water Act requires that these plants limit their destructive impacts on wildlife, but under Gov. Chris Christie, there was little enforcement of the law. A legal battle followed and to this day, the NJ Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has not pressured the Salem plant, the worst offender, to use advanced technology to protect endangered fish species. Hopefully, renewable energy will soon make nuclear power obsolete.
In 2014, a consortium of fossil-fuel companies proposed building the PennEast Pipeline across 114 miles from Wilkes-Barre, Pa., to Mercer County, NJ. This would mean piping “fracked” gas across the Delaware River. Gas pipelines can leak and explode, and investing in gas takes away financing from renewable energy solutions. The pipeline would have threatened over 88 waterways, 44 wetlands, 30 parks, and other conservation areas. On June 18, 2016, two dozen Sierra Club kayakers paddled down the river to protest the potential destruction and bring this issue to public attention.
By February 2021, under the pressure of activists, the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) voted to permanently outlaw all fracking in the Delaware watershed. Although this ban would not affect the PennEast Pipeline project, Jeff Tittel, former director of the NJ Chapter of the Sierra Club, described this historic vote as “a big victory” for fracking opponents. It would protect billions of gallons of drinking water and thousands of acres of forest from fracking wells.
New Jersey sought to stop PennEast from condemning land it needed for the pipeline, but the company took its case all the way to the US Supreme Court, which ruled in its favor. Worse yet, President Biden took the side of PennEast, indicating that the federal government has the right to use eminent domain to assist private companies working on projects considered to be in the public interest. The battle continued. Finally, on September 27, 2021, Reuters carried the headline: “PennEast becomes the latest to scuttle a natural gas pipeline project.” PennEast had failed to obtain all the permits it needed for construction. A victory for the river!
The fracking ban is not complete without a DRBC prohibition on transfers of fracking wastewater within the river basin, and on February 28, 2022, the DRBC began its review of public comments on a proposal to ban imports of fracking wastewater. That proposal, however, would allow some types of wastewater importation based on thresholds of evaluation. These decisions are still pending.
Another challenge came from Delaware River Partners and later New Fortress Energy, two corporations dreaming of the riches they could make selling liquid natural gas (LNG) to Europe. They proposed building a deep water port at an old DuPont facility, already polluted beyond anyone’s worst nightmares. The Gibbstown Logistics Center would create jobs, but at what risk? Various communities in New Jersey voted in opposition and called on Murphy to oppose the building of the LNG plant. In March 2022, a legal settlement was obtained that halted construction on the LNG plant in Wyalusing Township, Pa. To continue that project, the gas company will have to obtain new emissions permits.
Further downriver, in 2020, numerous environmental groups filed a petition with the DRBC seeking to improve the water quality to the level of “fishable and swimmable” in a 27-mile stretch encompassing the Philadelphia, Pa., and Camden, NJ, waterfronts. Major industries have discharged contaminants into the river for decades. In 2015, the NJ DEP issued permits requiring cities to upgrade their combined sewer overflow systems to reduce sewage in the water. Work on these infrastructure upgrades is still in progress and demands continued pressure from the public.
Unfortunately, in 2022 war broke out in Ukraine, a setback in efforts to reduce reliance on fossil fuels. The war created an excuse to wipe away the victories that were scored by environmentalists to protect the Earth. Oil and gas companies see the potential of huge profits in shipping dangerous LNG to Europe. The NJ Chapter of the Sierra Club, with our new director, Anjuli Ramos-Busot, vows to fight like a bulldog to protect the Delaware River basin in the future. Your help is needed. Join Sierra Club now.