Empower NJ & 100 Groups Call on Murphy to Stop Disastrous Gibbstown LNG Port

The Empower NJ Coalition along with 100 groups and organizations sent a letter to Governor Murphy expressing disappointment in the DRBC vote which approved the Gibbstown Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Port. When asked about the LNG port just a day before the DRBC vote, Governor Murphy said, “That’s an independent body, there’s a process in place. I’m not going to get ahead of it. I’ll let the process play out…I’m not supporting an LNG facility there, and I’m certainly hoping it’s not what happens…” He let the process play out that approved one of the most dangerous fossil fuel projects in the Delaware Region.

“Governor Murphy ducked his responsibility to lead at the DRBC and pushed this LNG project through. Environmental groups in New Jersey are untied and 100 groups have called on the Governor to stop the project. The port will create more fracking, more climate impacts, and public safety issues. Murphy is promoting offshore wind in Paulsboro, however this LNG port will undermine that,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “If Governor Murphy actually cares about Environmental Justice, banning fracking, protecting the communities from Bomb Trains and rivers from explosive boats, he should have voted no, but he voted yes to this proposal. Murphy still has a chance to undo his mistakes. He can still sign an Executive Order to stop the LNG port or he can change the Coastal Management Plan to block it. This is just round one, we will fight and keep on fighting no matter what.”

The NJ Empower Coalition sent the following letter to Governor Murphy,

Dear Governor Murphy:

We write to express our profound dismay with your vote last week at the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) for the construction of a dock in the Delaware River in Gibbstown in Gloucester County, which will lead directly to the construction of a massive LNG export facility on the Delaware.

This vote directly contradicts your general concerns for protecting New Jersey’s environment and reducing climate emissions and about the LNG project specifically.

Before the vote you said in a Politico interview that, “My only interest with that project is the building of our port capabilities,” and “I’m not supporting an LNG facility there, and I’m certainly hoping it’s not what happens”. However, the port is being constructed for the LNG facility and you have not stated how and when you will stop the port from being used for that purpose.

As we’ve previously documented to you in great detail, this project is an unsafe experiment, playing with peoples’ lives. It would be the first facility to liquefy this volume of methane in the shale fields far from an export terminal, the first large scale tank truck transport of LNG overland, the first use of railcars in the nation to transport LNG, the first terminal to receive such a large volume of LNG without pipelines and on-site storage, and the first LNG export facility in New Jersey and the Delaware River Basin. The extensive land transport and perpetual transloading of LNG required by this project is recklessly dangerous and the proposal to transport it by railcar is unprecedented, untested, and exposes residents and workers to the danger of an accident or derailment that could be catastrophic.

It is for all these reasons that there is growing and fierce opposition to the facility.

Accordingly, we urge you to stop this LNG export facility whether through Executive Order, existing regulatory authority, new climate PACT or environmental justice (S232) rules, or any other means necessary, and look forward to your response.

Sincerely,

BlueWave NJ, Clean Water Action, Delaware Riverkeeper Network, Don’t Gas The Meadowlands Coalition, Environment NJ, Food & Water Watch, Sierra Club

350.org Bucks County

350Brooklyn

350NewJersey/Rockland

A SMART Collaboration LLC

Action Together New Jersey (Cape May Co.)

Action Together New Jersey (Gloucester Co.)

All Together Now Pennsylvania

Be The Change

Berks Gas Truth

Better Path Coalition

Bucks County Concerned Citizens Against the Pipelines

Bucks Environmental Action

Bus For Progress

Center for Environmental Transformation

Central Bergen Circle of GreenFaith

Central Jersey Coalition Against Endless War

Central Jersey Environmental Defenders

Citizens for Informed Land Use

Citizens United for Renewable Energy (CURE)

Clean Ocean Action

Coalition Against Pilgrim Pipeline – NJ

Coalition to Ban Unsafe Oil Trains

Coalition to Save South Mountain Reservation

Collingswood Progressive Democrats

Crafts Creek Watershed Association

Damascus Citizens for Sustainability

DivestNJ Coalition

Don’t Gas the Pinelands

Film Society of Summit

FracTracker Alliance

Franciscan Response to Fossil Fuels

Franklin Township Interfaith Council

Friends of Liberty State Park

Gas Free Seneca

Genesis Farm

Green Party of New Jersey

Indivisible Bayshore

Indivisible Cranbury

Indivisible NJ5

JFK Democratic Club of Franklin Twp

JOLT USA

K&D Films Inc

Kids Next Door

MGS Marketing Solutions, LLC

Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Conception

MoveOn.org Hoboken

Neighbors Against the Gas Plants

New Jersey Peace Action

Newark Water Coalition

NJ Association UCC Justice & Witness Task Force

NJ Forest Watch/Friends of Sparta Mtn

NJ Student Sustainability Coalition

NJ Working Families

NJ-08 For Progress

No Gibbstown Fracked Gas Port

North Jersey Sierra

Northern New Jersey NOW

Northjersey Pipeline Walkers

Not Here Not Anywhere

Our Green West Orange

Our Revolution Essex County

Our Revolution Monmouth County

Philadelphia Eco District

Philly Boricuas

Physicians for Social Responsibility Pennsylvania

Possible Planet

Preserve Montgomery County VA

Princeton Manor Homeowners Association

Princeton Student Climate Initiative

Property Rights and Pipeline Center

Protect Northern PA

Protect PT

PSR Pennsylvania

Rains Energy

Raritan Headwaters

Raritan Valley Group, NJ Sierra Club

Retired Environmental Activist & Professionals

Rutgers AAUP-AFT Faculty and Grad Union

SAVE RGV from LNG

SoftComTech

South Jersey Land & Water Trust

South Jersey Progressive Democrats

Sparta UMC

St. Matthew Trinity Lunchtime Ministry

State Senator Katie Muth (PA)

Sullivan Alliance for Sustainable Development

Sunrise Movement Morris County

Sunrise Movement Union County

Surfrider Foundation

Sustainable West Milford

The Climate Mobilization

The League of Women Voters of New Jersey

Tracey Stephens Interior Design Inc

Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Sussex County

UU Faith Action NJ

Waterspirit

Westfield 20/20