ENVIRONMENT

State joins groups to ask feds to rescind PennEast decision

Mike Deak
Courier News and Home News Tribune
New Jersey is asking the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to reconsider its certification of the PennEast pipeline.

TRENTON -The state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), along with state legislators, has joined conservation groups in asking the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to reconsider its decision to certify the need for the PennEast natural gas pipeline.

The DEP, state Sen. Kip Bateman (R-District 16) and Assemblyman Reed Gusicora (D-District 15) have joined environmental groups, including the Sierra Club, New Jersey Conservation Foundation and Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed Association, in asking FERC to conduct another hearing on the 110-mile, $1 billion pipeline that will carry natural gas from northeastern Pennsylvania to another natural gas pipeline in Pennington. 

FERC's ruling paved the way for PennEast to start the condemnation proceedings for the 36-inch diameter pipeline that would enter Hunterdon County north of Milford then run parallel to the Delaware River, east of Frenchtown and Lambertville. PennEast has filed more than 120 lawsuits in federal court seeking to condemn land under the federal power of eminent domain to acquire the easements for the pipeline.

The state is asking FERC to stop the condemnation process, saying that the environmental impacts to two-thirds of the route are still unknown. The DEP are also argues that there are "fundamental flaws" in the FERC approval.

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In his letter asking for a fresh hearing, Bateman said that the New Jersey Division of Rate Counsel, based on a study by Skipping Stone, found a "lack of need" for the project.

"FERC has merely relied on unsupported assertions by PennEast to justify a finding the project is in the present and future public interest," Bateman wrote.

Because of the large number of condemnation proceedings, Bateman said, FERC should base its decision "upon a rigorous examination of public benefits and not the superficial one in this instance."

In response to the claims, Penn East spokeswoman Patricia Kornick said, "Reading the same, tired, desperate claims is like Groundhog Day."

Kornick also said the studies do not support the conclusion that the pipeline is not needed.

"The FERC order specifically states the studies — including Skipping Stone’s last faulty analysis — were 'unpersuasive' and 'unavailing,' yet they continue to be the studies on which the Conservation Foundation and others form their rhetoric," she said

The economic need for the pipeline is clear, Kornick said. 

"Objective observers understand that the PennEast Pipeline will deliver affordable, reliable and clean energy that will power the region for decades," Kornick said.

"PennEast is proud that three government agencies have determined the PennEast Pipeline is safe for the environment and that federal regulators have found the PennEast Pipeline is in the public benefit."  

Staff Writer Mike Deak: 908-243-6607; mdeak@mycentraljersey.com