Morgan Caplan, morgan.caplan@sierraclub.org
WASHINGTON, DC – The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has given Williams Transco the go ahead for tree cutting and removal to hastily move forward with their Regional Energy Access Expansion project (REAE). The greenlight on this project occurred despite FERC not issuing a substantive decision on local environmental organizations’ requests for rehearing.
The local environmental organizations that are still awaiting formal word and clarification are Sierra Club New Jersey State Chapter, New Jersey Food and Water Watch, New Jersey League of Conservation Voters and New Jersey Conservation Foundation, as well as the New Jersey Rate Counsel and the State’s Board of Public Utilities.
The expansion would include roughly 36 miles of new pipeline in Pennsylvania, as well as the Branchburg Compressor station that will release methane and other toxic chemicals into the air. Compressor stations emit high levels of these air pollutants in addition to water pollution through uncontrolled leakage, and so can directly affect public health, especially during construction. This project also goes directly against New Jersey’s climate initiatives to commit to 80% reductions in GHG emissions by 2050.
“It’s extremely disappointing that FERC gave the greenlight for Williams to move forward with tree felling. New Jersey has told FERC that it does not need the gas from this project and the record shows that’s true,” Sierra Club New Jersey State Chapter Director Anjuli Ramos said. “What we need instead is an agency that is looking to protect the public interest. Allowing Williams Transco to move forward when the fate of the project is still uncertain will only cause the unnecessary loss of hundreds of trees, and ultimately cause financial distress to ratepayers who could be forced to pay for unneeded gas if the project is built.”
"Once again, corporate fossil-fuel interests are being placed above that of ratepayers, affected communities, and individual residents,” said Gary Frederick, Conservation Chair of the chapter’s Raritan Valley Group. “FERC circumvented their own rules to allow tree cutting to proceed before issuing a substantive decision on a rehearing. Not only is this against established procedure, but the tree-cutting can cause irrevocable damage to the environment and to nearby residential properties for a pipeline that has zero benefit to New Jersey.”
About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.