BPU Approves NJNGas Pipelines: Another Sell-Out

For Immediate Release

January 27, 2016

Contact: Jeff Tittel, NJ Sierra
Club, 609-558-9100

Today The Board of Public Utilities approved the New Jersey Natural Gas’s petition to construct and operate the pipeline by a vote of 5-0. The company claims that the proposed Southern Reliability Link pipeline is for resiliency but rather it is for growth and development along the coast. The base is outside its service area and the people along the route will not benefit from the pipeline. All they will see is increased pollution and safety hazards.

“The BPU has sold out the environment once again to the gas utilities. The Southern Reliability Link is unneeded and unnecessary. This pipeline is not for resiliency; it is for growth and development along the coast. The pipeline will cause an ugly scar through the Pinelands and create environmental damage along the way. It will affect the safety of communities and farming viability in the area. The pipeline and connected infrastructure will add pollution to our air and water and promote climate change, putting our environment, our health, and our safety at risk,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “The BPU tried to sneak it through by not telling people it was on the agenda today. During the lengthy discussion at the hearing, they didn’t even mention whether or not this pipeline is needed or necessary. The BPU is nothing but a rubber stamp for the industry they are supposed to regulate. When you listen to them try to justify this unjustifiable pipeline, they put out more hot air than two pipelines could handle.”

New Jersey Natural Gas’s Southern Reliability Link (SRL) pipeline would attach to the compressor station in Chesterfield and run through Burlington, Monmouth, and Ocean counties. The 30-mile, 30-inch pipeline would begin in Chesterfield, Burlington County and run through the Pinelands to the shore to connect to the utility system in Manchester Township, Ocean County. The utility company claims that this pipeline is for local resiliency against future storms but its real purpose is for growth along the coast and in Ocean County.

“The BPU says the pipeline is for reliability. Their definition of reliability is this: when they lie once, they just lie. When they lie a second time, they re-lie. The Southern Reliability Link would bring five times as much natural gas into Ocean County than necessary for resiliency. The purpose of this pipeline is potentially for a new gas-powered plant in Oyster Creek or the Heritage Mineral development project in Ocean County,” said Jeff Tittel. “This is not about resiliency; it’s about expanding their franchise area for more customers and development along the coast.”

This pipeline will also run through the ecologically important Pinelands. The Pinelands is a UN biosphere reserve and one of the largest sources of fresh drinking water on the east coast. This project would put the environmentally sensitive lands, as well as drinking water for thousands of people, at risk. The pipeline would also have huge impacts on agriculture in the region. It will only promote dirty fossil fuels and the polluting of our air and water.

“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. They’re trying to make New Jersey the Pipeline State. Hundreds of people have come out to meetings against this pipeline. The BPU does not listen to the people, they just do what the utility companies want. They’re turning New Jersey from the Crossroads of the Revolution to the Crossroads of Pipelines,” said Jeff Tittel. “Putting in this pipeline will be like putting a blowtorch in people’s backyards.”

This pipeline is only part of the bigger push for fracking and dirty infrastructure. The Southern Reliability Link is connected to the Garden State Expansion compressor station project and PennEast Pipeline. This pipeline will promote sprawl and overdevelopment down the shore and near the Pinelands when they have other clear alternatives.

“The BPU is putting the cart behind the horse because the Garden State Expansion compressor station has not even been approved. Neither has PennEast pipeline, from which they will get the gas. They’ve approved the pipeline before there is anything for it to even connect to. This just shows they’re on the side of the gas industry and not the people,” said Jeff Tittel. “They can approve this pipeline and have the ratepayers pay for it without having it actually connect to anything.”

The people and municipalities along the route, as well as the Joint Base, are opposed to this project. However, by approving this pipeline, the BPU has sided with Christie Administration, whose interest is to protect gas companies instead of the environment.

“The BPU has never met a pipeline it didn’t like and they’ve pushed this one through just like they did South Jersey Gas pipeline. The NJNG Pipeline will only cause harm to the people along the route, the sensitive Pinelands ecosystem, and the Joint Base. The BPU have sold out the ratepayers and the people of New Jersey,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “This is only the first approval of many they will need. We will continue to fight against this dangerous and damaging pipeline that has nothing to do with resiliency and everything to do with promoting the use of dirty fuel in New Jersey.”