New Jersey groups oppose construction of PennEast pipeline

Environmental groups demonstrated outside the New Jersey Statehouse against plans for a 115-mile pipeline to carry natural gas from Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, to a compressor station near Trenton.

 

New Jersey Sierra Club director Jeff Tittle said Tuesday the PennEast pipeline could carve a path of destruction through major streams, parks, and preserved farms. It could also undermine the state’s economy, he said.

“People aren’t going to want to come to a B&B with a pipeline next to it. People cannot go to an organic farm with a pipeline because it’s no longer organic,” he said. “And people will not be able to go along a canal path to go biking if there’s a pipeline ruining that view.”

Dave Pringle with Clean Water Action is also concerned about the potential harm the project might cause.

“We need another dirty dangerous gas pipeline like we need another hole in our head,” he said. “PennEast would destroy open space and property rights, pollute our water, and exacerbate the climate crisis.”

Assemblywoman Elizabeth Muoio has proposed a legislative resolution urging the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, now considering an application from PennEast, to reject the project.

“It is a pipeline containing unneeded fracked gas crossing over thousands of acres of preserved land that generations of New Jerseyans have fought for, voted for, and paid to protect,” said Muoio, D-Mercer.

The New Jersey Chamber of Commerce supports the pipeline project, saying it would improve the energy infrastructure and help boost the state’s economy.