Sierra Club fights NJ Natural Gas pipeline plan

The New Jersey Sierra Club is urging residents to fight New Jersey Natural Gas’ plans to build a 28-mile transmission pipeline from Burlington County to Manchester, a proposal it calls “destructive.”

“(It will) not only create an ugly scar through the Pinelands, but it will destroy important habitat, pollute high-quality streams, rivers, and cut across important (protected) waterways,” said Jeff Tittel, director of the New Jersey Sierra Club in a statement.

“This pipeline will promote fracking, add to air pollution and safety concerns to the surrounding communities.

Earlier this month, New Jersey Natural Gas filed a proposal with the state Board of Public Utilities for a 30-inch high pressure transmission pipe that will feed the southern portion of the utility’s service territory in Ocean and Burlington counties. Currently, the utility pulls natural gas from a connection in Middlesex County.

Plans call for a new transmission line, called the Southern Reliability Link, to run from Chesterfield Township in Burlington County, to North Hanover, Upper Freehold, Plumsted and Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst before it connects with the utility’s system in Manchester.

New Jersey Natural Gas said it “strongly disagreed” with the Sierra Club’s statement.

Utility’s response

The pipeline will make the utility’s system more resilient, spokesman Michael Kinney said. More than 85 percent of the utility’s natural gas supply is provided by a single interstate pipeline feed at the system’s northern end.

“Should there be a supply disruption of any kind, it could adversely affect our customers at the southern end of our system,” Kinney said. “This project will provide supply diversity, system resiliency and help ensure reliable service to our customers.”

The utility has worked to minimize the route’s impact to homeowners, communities and the environment, he said. While the vast majority follows existing road rights of way, it avoids state preserved farmland and protected forested areas, Kinney said. An electric utility corridor is not a viable option.

It is also in compliance with the Pinelands Comprehensive Management Plan, Kinney said.

Group, town opposition

In the last several months, the pipeline has picked up some opposition. North Hanover, Plumsted and Monmouth County governments have passed resolutions urging the BPU to meet with residents.

In Upper Freehold, residents have formed a group called Families for Responsible Pipelines.

John Inzilla, one of the founders, said the utility has had productive talks with local leaders about the pipeline’s route. Earlier this year, the group protested outside the annual meeting of New Jersey Resources Corp., the utility’s parent company, saying the route was too close to homes.

“We don’t say there should be no pipeline. We just say it shouldn’t be near people,” Inzilla said Wednesday. “We simply want to make sure that the safety of the population that is affected is considered ... before they just put this pipeline in.”

Tittel said the project is of a size that could lead to expansion for the utility. “My sense is that if they really needed a backup, they have other ways they could do it,” he said. “It’s much easier to build a loop along an existing line and upgrade pumping stations.”

But Kinney said the utility is not looking to expand. “It’s not about adding new customers,” he said. “This is about resiliency for our customers.”

David P. Willis: 732-643-4039; dwillis@gannettnj.com; facebook.com/dpwillis732