Date : Tue, 24 Feb 2015 12:38:13 -0500
For Immediate
Release
February 24, 2015
Contact Jeff Tittel 609-558-9100
PennEast N.J. Scoping Hearings this Week
This week the only two New Jersey Scoping Meetings in will be held on the PennEast Pipeline. After two meetings in Pennsylvania the next meetings will take place tomorrow, February 25th in West Trenton and on Thursday, February 26th in Hampton, New Jersey. 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.
"The Scoping Meetings are the only place the public can talk directly to FERC. Everyone needs to come out to voice their concerns about the PennEast Pipeline," said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club.
Below is The New Jersey Sierra Club's Director Jeff Tittel statement on this week's hearings:
"These meetings are a critical part of battle to protect the Delaware Valley from this damaging pipeline. The PennEast Pipeline will cut not only create an ugly scar through our valley, but will destroy important habitat, pollute high quality streams, rivers, and cut across important C1 waterways. This is a battle against not only fracking in Pennsylvania, but fracking in our valley. This pipeline will promote fracking, add to air pollution, and safety concerns to the surrounding communities. It is critical for people to come out and start the fight against this destructive pipeline. In the past FERC have rubberstamped projects by the industry they are supposed to regulate. We need to come out and show them that they have to do their job, protecting our environment and water supply."
"All together this pipeline will be cutting through 39 parks, 88 waterways, 44 wetlands, and 33 farms and other open space areas. We believe that this pipeline violates the Clean Water Act and cannot meet the criteria for 404 permits because 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. The new pipeline route will be crossing where the streams are wider than they were before, having a greater impact on streams and flood plains. Many of these streams are C1, meaning it will be impacting some of the highest water quality waterways in the state. Therefore the permit should not be granted."
"There are significant air quality impacts that have not been addressed regarding the pipeline and pumping stations. We do not believe the pipeline would meet the criteria for air quality permits. More than half of the pipeline route is going through public open space. This is land paid for by the tax payers and held in the public trust. This pipeline is going through historic areas and past historic sites. There are areas where General Washington and his army camped and marched including a road that is still intact from the colonial time right outside Lambertville. This pipeline deliberately targets waterways, environmentally sensitive areas and parks. The permit should be rejected."
"This is the wrong project in the wrong place. This pipeline is unneeded, unnecessary, hurts the environment and is dangerous. It must be stopped. There are other pipelines that are permitted or being built along the same route, like Transco, Columbia and TGP. The pipeline will not save consumers money or create jobs, instead it will create negative economic impacts. The pipeline cuts through scenic areas and farmlands impacting tourism and the arts. The tourism industry in the Delaware Valley is worth billions of dollars, impacting communities like Lambertville and Frenchtown. The pipeline runs through preserved farmland impacting soil and crops hurting farms financially. The agriculture and fishing industry will be impacted, both are worth hundreds of millions of dollars. For 98 jobs we will ruin the Delaware Valley and all people love about it."
"The only option for this pipeline is a no build option. This is a scoping meeting with the scope of this project being a disaster in the making. This project should be denied."
"There is no need for this pipeline other than to promote fracking and the burning of fossil fuels that impact clean water and promote climate change. Pennsylvania gets the money, New York gets the gas, and we get the pipe. This line not only threatens the neighborhoods it passes through but threatens our environment,"
"People need to come out to the hearings and they need to get comments in to FERC. The future of our valley depends on it!" said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club.
Meeting Details:
Wednesday, February 25, 2015
Time: 6 PM
Where: West Trenton Ballroom
40 W. Upper Ferry Road
West Trenton, New Jersey 08628
Thursday, February 26, 2015
Time: 6 PM
Where: The Grand Colonial
86 Route 173 West
Hampton, New Jersey 08827