Protesters from Pa, NJ march against PennEast pipeline

MILFORD

Opponents of the proposed PennEast pipeline, which would bring natural gas from fracked fields in northeastern Pennsylvania to connect with another pipeline near Pennington in Mercer County, gathered at Veteran's Park in Upper Black Eddy, Pennsylvania, Saturday morning and marched to Municipal Park in Milford, a community that will be surrounded by the pipeline if it is constructed.

The march concluded with a rally in the park, with speakers opposed to the project. Many speakers said they don't trust PennEast, citing economic reasons. They look at the projected need for natural gas in the coming decades and insist the quantity of gas the pipeline will bring is much more than New Jersey will need.

They also said that PennEast partners are investing so much money in this project, they won't be able to make a profit if they limit themselves to consumers in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

What is this pipeline?

The PennEast pipeline would be a new conduit for natural gas produced by fracking in the area around Dallas, Pennsylvania. Fracking is a process whereby a mining company pumps water into layered rock formations that hold natural gas. The increased water in the rock causes it to fracture, releasing the gas so that it can be harvested. While this process greatly reduces the cost of gathering the gas, many environmentalists believe it pollutes the ground water and may cause earthquakes, two effects that are difficult to quantify and cause no economic penalty to the companies selling the gas.

Public Service Electric & Gas, New Jersey's largest utility company, has lowered the price of natural gas to consumers several times in the last 12 months, and has said publicly that it is because fracking has reduced its costs in procuring gas, so it is passing these savings onto the customer. PSE&G is a member of the PennEast consortium, as is Elizabethtown Gas. Jersey Central Power & Light is not involved.

Pipeline, opponents feel that the state would be better served by reducing its long-term dependence on fossil fuels such as natural gas. Instead, they would continue and deepen New Jersey's development of renewable sources of energy, such as wind and solar.

The environmentalists' arguments

In a letter to the editor of this paper, published Aug. 11, Michele S. Byers, the executive director of the New Jersey Conservation Foundation wrote, "Right now, New Jersey is facing an onslaught of proposed natural gas pipelines that threaten preserved open space and farmland, our air, our drinking water and our communities. Several new gas pipelines have recently been constructed in central and northern New Jersey, and three more are under review by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission or the Board of Public Utilities."

"Many of these proposed pipelines would cross preserved farmland and open space — lands that New Jersey residents paid for with their tax dollars. Crossing preserved lands runs counter to voter support for land preservation and erodes public trust in preservation programs," Byers continued.

"There is not clear documentation that these new gas pipelines are needed in New Jersey. In fact, the opposite is most likely true," Byers said, citing a study by Labyrinth Consulting Services, which found that the proposed PennEast pipeline would result in a 53 percent surplus beyond current demand in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and concluded that gas is bound for other markets, including export overseas.

In answer to a direct question about where the gas would be used, PennEast spokeswoman Patricia Kornick categorically denied the gas in this proposed pipeline would be used for consumers outside New Jersey and Pennsylvania. She said pipeline opponents continue to make this argument, although the company repeatedly has denied it.

One of the protesters, Doug O'Malley, director of Environment New Jersey, said that because 70 percent of landowners along the pipeline route have refused PennEast permission to survey and test drill as it prepares its final proposal for approval to build the pipeline, the Department of Environmental Protection can't consider the application because it has insufficient data. Another protester, Nancy Wilson of Holland Township, one of the rally organizers, said that once the pipeline is approved, PennEast will have the power to take land by eminent domain. This is one of the reasons why residents in communities along the pipeline route are so opposed to it.

"Today's turnout shows not just a handful of citizens are opposed to the pipeline," O''Malley said. "People are uniting against this issue, and it's working. I really think we will defeat it."

He pointed out that Mercer County has forbidden PennEast from surveying any open space or preserved land owned by that county, because they caught the consortium surveying land in Bald Pate in Hopewell without a permit.

"Many communities along the proposed pipeline route have passed or are passing resolutions against this pipeline," O'Malley said. "PennEast has united a bipartisan grassroots movement against the pipeline."

Kenny Collins of Andover, the Green Party candidate for the 24th legislative district of the State Assembly, said the pipeline won't go through his community, but it does affect the Delaware River, which is very important to him and his neighbors. He cited a very specific reason for opposing the pipeline as well.

"I used to rent a cabin along the river years ago," he said. "And 25 years ago, that cabin was severely damaged by a tiny trickle of a brook that swelled with the waters of Hurricane Hugo. So I went to the scope meetings and pointed out the potential harm if that happens again. I even showed them specifically on the map where this happened because the pipeline would go right under that stream. But their engineers said it was highly unlikely to happen again and that it would be safe to put the pipeline just 3 feet below the stream bed. I don't agree."

On the morning of the protest, PennEast spokeswoman Kornick wrote in an email interview, "Since 1990, natural gas use has increased by seven trillion cubic feet. The PennEast Pipeline would deliver natural gas to local utilities in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and possibly neighboring states to allow the utilities to meet increasing consumer demand for residential, business and manufacturing needs. The underground PennEast natural gas pipeline will not be designed for export."

She went on, "In addition to home heating, cooking and electricity, natural gas and natural gas products help make many things possible. This includes the footwear many are using for today's protest, as well as the markers and ink for signs and the cell phones, video cameras and computers used to record the activities. It demonstrates on a small scale the increased use and everyday reliance on natural gas as a clean, affordable and abundant energy source."

The protesters, though, are not buying such arguments. Karen Feridun of the Berk's Gas Truth Group in Pennsylvania said there will be hearings before FERC and the Delaware River Basin Commission, a watchdog group made up of representatives from the governors of Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey and Delaware, as well as the President of the United States — who always is represented by the Army Corps of Engineers — are scheduled for September. However, Clarke Rupert, communications manager for the commission, said no such hearing has been scheduled.

He wrote, "the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) has no plans to hold a hearing on the proposed PennEast Pipeline project in September. In fact, the DRBC has not yet received an application from the project sponsors to review. Once an application is received and the review process focused on that application is underway, fair and adequate procedures to receive public input on the proposed project can and will be established. While no decisions on the number or location of hearings have yet been made, DRBC is committed to a public process that affords interested persons an opportunity to comment on issues of concern."

Feridun, one of the march's organizers and a speaker at the rally, said the commission suggested just one hearing be held. Her group and others are insisting there be at least seven hearings in various locations along the pipeline route, to give everyone who wants to speak a chance to be heard at a time and in a venu that is convenient for them.

"We have pledged to protect the river," Feridun said. "We'll show them that people from both sides of the river are united. My organization beat UGI -- one of the Pennsylvania companies that is part of the PennEast consortium --over another pipeline in Pennsylvania. We'll do it again."

Staff Writer Pamela MacKenzie, 908-243-6616; pmackenz@gannettnj.com