Contact: Jeff Tittel, NJ Sierra Club, 609-558-9100

Sierra Club Calls on Pinelands Commission for Real Hearing on Southern Reliability Link Pinelands Pipeline

The New Jersey Sierra Club and other organizations sent a letter to the Pinelands Commission to extend the comment period and hold real evidentiary hearings on the New Jersey Natural Gas (NJNG) proposed Southern Reliability Link (SRL) pipeline. After we sued against the Executive Director’s unilateral approval of the pipeline, without a full Commission vote, now they have proposed a sham meeting instead of a real hearing. We believe that the Commission needs to hold a real evidentiary hearing with cross examination of expert witnesses. We believe should not be a time limit for objector organizations who are part of the litigation. These organizations should be allowed to bring in expert witnesses and have an unlimited amount of time. We also believe the Commission should give the public, our organizations, and other interested parties at least 90 days to have these documents reviewed in order to write comments. The only public meeting currently scheduled will be on July 26 at 9 a.m. at Pine Belt Arena in Toms River.

“The Pinelands Commission is trying to push through the Southern Reliability Link pipeline in the Pinelands with another sham meeting. Since Sierra Club is party to the litigation against the illegal approval of the SRL pipeline, we caused them to come back for a full vote by all of the Commissioners. However, this is not a real hearing because it limits public input. We are asking the Commission to do the right thing and hold a real hearing with expert witnesses and the ability to cross examine DEP and others who try to spin the facts about this destructive project. Sierra Club and those who are in Court against this pipeline should also have more than three minutes to get all of our concerns on the record,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “This pipeline will destroy environmentally sensitive land, threaten our water supply, and cut a scar through the Pinelands. We are currently in Court challenging the Commission’s process to approve the South Jersey Gas pipeline as well because it was such a sham. We cannot let them play the same games they did to approve that pipeline. We must demand a fair public hearing and proper process.”

Our letter told the Commission that the current comment period is not enough time for this to be done nor enough time for public scrutiny, especially since it is right in the middle of the summer. We asked the Commission to add more hearings on the proposal. The location of the current public meeting is inadequate because Toms River is more than 40 minutes from the majority of the people living along the pipeline route and is not on the proposed route whatsoever. We request the locations be held along the proposed route including Bordentown, Plumsted, and Manchester.

“We are sending a clear message to the Pinelands Commission that they cannot side with the gas companies over the public that they are supposed to work for. It is outrageous that the Commission deliberately planned this hearing in the middle of the summer when most people are on vacation. They clearly picked this location because it is the farthest away from where most people that oppose the pipeline live and it’s not even near the route. We need to make sure they have real hearings along the entire pipeline route because that is what the people impacted by this pipeline deserve,” said Jeff Tittel. “Given the hundreds of people that have come out to previous hearings thousands of people who have commented against the New Jersey Natural Gas pipeline, one hearing is not nearly enough to handle the amount of people concerned about this project. Out of the three hearings, we believe at least one should be a nighttime hearing and one should be an afternoon hearing so people who work during the daytime can attend. Instead of making it a fair process, the Pinelands Commission is gaming the system to keep out the public opposition.”

The New Jersey Sierra Club is currently suing the Board of Public Utilities (BPU) and the Pinelands Commission on their approval of the SRL pipeline. We are opposing the BPU and Pinelands Commission’s decision to allow the 28-mile gas pipeline to destroy environmentally sensitive land in the New Jersey and threaten communities along the route in Burlington, Ocean, and Monmouth Counties. We are also challenging the decisions of the BPU and Pinelands Commissioner Director Nancy Wittenberg in court. We believe the Executive Director of the Pinelands Commission’s exceeded her authority by unilaterally determining that the pipeline was consistent with the Comprehensive Management Plan. This decision circumvented a public hearing and further vote by the Pinelands Commission, which we believe is against the Pinelands Protection Act.

“We need everyone to come out to these meetings because it is the next phase in our battle to protect the Pinelands. This pipeline is part of a bigger picture, which is the rush to bring fracked gas from Pennsylvania to the New Jersey coast for development. The SRL is directly interconnected to the Garden State Expansion compressor station and PennEast Pipeline. The SRL would connect to the Garden State Expansion (GSE) compressor station in Chesterfield which would get gas from the PennEast Pipeline. These projects would be working together to bring fracked gas into New Jersey. NJNG and other utility companies are planning to criss-cross our state with dangerous pipelines,” said Jeff Tittel. “The relationship between the three projects is symbiotic; without one project the other two can’t happen.”

The Christie Administration has removed commissioners who voted against the pipeline and stacked it with people who support South Jersey Gas instead of protecting the Pines. The Pinelands is the largest open space on the eastern seaboard and recognized for its biodiversity by the United Nations. It is also the country’s first National Reserve and holds 17 trillion gallons of water in its aquifer.
“We will continue to stand up and protect the Pinelands because both of these pipelines will create irreversible harm to wetlands, streams, as well as damage important open spaces, and threaten one of the largest sources of fresh drinking water on the east coast,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “If we didn’t go to court, they would be building the pipeline by now. They may try to rubberstamp this pipeline but we’ll go back to court, just like we’re doing on South Jersey Gas! We’re going to keep fighting to protect the Pinelands from being destroyed by these unneeded pipelines!”