Local landowners in several counties along eastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey may find the intentions of PennEast and their proposed gas transmission project- The PennEast Pipeline- very concerning.
In November of 2015, the Obama administration rejected the Keystone Pipeline, a proposed oil pipeline running from Alberta, Canada to the southern United States. Despite this victory for environmental activists- a group whose victories may seem few and far between- a new opponent has arisen. This time, the fight is the backyards of many families and businesses who call Bucks County and surrounding counties home.
The opponent: PennEast Pipeline.
PennEast Pipeline is comprised of several energy companies, including AGL Resources, NJR Pipeline Company, PSEG Power; SJI Midstream, Spectra Energy Partners, and UGI Energy Services (UGIES).
The PennEast Pipeline, a 118-mile, primarily 36-inch diameter, natural gas pipeline, is being currently proposed to run through Luzerne, Carbon, Northampton and Bucks County in Pennsylvania, as well as Hunterdon and Mercer Counties in New Jersey.
The purpose: reducing energy costs
The pipeline will operate as a method of transportation for natural gas. According to PennEast, local families and business will benefit via greater access to affordable, clean-burning natural gas.
“Had the PennEast Pipeline been in service only a few years ago,” Patricia Kornick, PennEast spokesperson disclosed. “Eastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey electric and natural gas consumers also would have saved more than $893 million in energy costs during winter 2013-2014.”
This project could potentially generate thousands of jobs.
“The design and construction of the PennEast Pipeline is estimated to generate an approximately $1.6 billion economic impact during is construction phase alone,” says Kornick. “Supporting about 12,160 jobs and an associated $740 million in wages.”
These figures are derived from a study PennEast had conducted by Drexel University and Econsult Solutions.
What does all of this mean for the local communities being affected? From a purely financial standpoint: potentially great things.
According to PennEast and their studies, the intended outcomes are, in a simplified manner, as follows:
Lower energy bills result in increased consumer disposable income. This then leads to increased spending within the economy. According to the Drexel study, for every $10 million in increased disposable income resulting from lower energy prices would generate a total economic impact of $13.5 million and support 90 jobs.
Despite the seemingly well-intended monetary benefits of this project, not everyone shares the same level of confidence that the laying of the PennEast Pipeline won’t result in detrimental effects to the local land.
Enter: Concerned Citizens Against the Pipeline.
Among those fighting against the pipeline is an organization dedicating to spreading the word of the environmental- as well as monetary- costs of PennEast’s proposed pipeline. The CCAP, or Concerned Citizens Against the Pipeline, is fueled by local land and homeowners, environmental activists, and all-around alarmed citizens who fear what allowing this pipeline may mean for their community.
“The environmental devastation this pipeline would cause is staggering,” says Elizabeth Balogh, a founding member of the organization.
Balogh has spent time in the past working towards environmental justice with her work in anti-fracking groups. But when it comes to the PennEast Pipeline- the fight became personal.
“The pipeline will be going through the Delaware River just outside of the town that I live in says Balogh. “It will cross the Delaware canal and towpath where thousands of people cross each year.”
Balogh and others are working to provide the public with information about the environmental effects of the pipeline.
“First of all, it will be crossing 88 watersheds. Many of these watersheds contains streams that are of ev1 or C1 quality, which means they are of exceptional water quality,” ays Balogh.
Ev1 and c1 refer to the federal regulations of water quality.
In addition to crossing waterways, the PennEast Pipeline is supposedly threatening 69 preserved properties across Pennsylvania.
Citizen tax money has paid for these properties to be preserved as open space to maintain the integrity and beauty of Pennsylvania. In theory, preserved means these properties can never be developed,” says Laura Pritchard, a member of Pennsylvanians Against the PennEast Pipeline. “But, even as an independent business, PennEast would potentially be given the right of eminent domain to cross these properties.”
PennEast is currently in the Application phase of the FERC review process. FERC (Federal Energy Regulatory Commission) is the federal agency responsible for regulating the laying of interstate pipelines.
“Pending regulatory approvals, PennEast anticipates the Pipeline will be operational the second half of 2018, rather than late November 2017. Construction will take between approximately seven months and one year,” Kornick says.
However, in order to obtain the land necessary to build under, PennEast will need the use of eminent domain. This means temporarily seizing private land from local residents.
“Once a pipeline is placed underground, landowners may use their property – including for farming — as they had prior to construction, with the exception of building atop a pipeline or planting trees on it,” says Kornick.
But just exactly what are the “anti-pipeliner’s” fretting over? After all, in accordance with FERC’s regulations, the pipe is required to be at least three feet underground. What dangers could arise?
“Just imagine a pipeline, 36 inches in diameter with 1480 pounds of pressure going through it continuously in order to pump the gas,” Balogh warns. “That pipe will always be a temperature of 98 to 114 degrees Fahrenheit. At all times. In the winter you will be able to see the pipeline’s path because no snow will collect along the path. The ground will be that hot. How long do you think it will take to diminish a watershed, even dry it up?”
The environmental worries are not exclusive to the pipeline itself, but also the infrastructure that will be needed to be put in place in order to keep the pipeline operating.
“In Kidder Township, Carbon County, they are planning to build a compressor station that is 47,700 Horsepower,” Balogh says.
But why the worry?
Well, typically compressor stations of this size emit 169.68 tons per year of nitrous oxide.
Additionally, they emit approximately 392.4 tons per year of carbon monoxide, 1.89 tons per year of hazardous air pollutants, and 3.75 tons per year of sulfur dioxide- and resulting in a total of 238,116 tons per year of greenhouse gases a year.
These figures come from taking the emission numbers of a 9,500 HP compressor station currently being built in Easton. and multiplying by 2.4 (equal to a 46,800 HP compressor station) to adjust for the magnitude of the proposed station.
Many worry the effects this station could have on the surrounding environment will be devastating.
According to the CCAP, the location for this compressor station is in the middle of a pristine forest where many “of concern” and endangered species inhabit- including the flying squirrel, bald eagles, bats, etcetera.
“No less than 40 acres of mature trees will be felled in order to construct this poison spewing infrastructure. So where once existed a naturally oxygenating area, there will be one that spews pollution in its stead. These are the few examples offhand that I can give out of many that will happen,” warns Balogh.
PennEast, however, believes that environmental security and affordable energy are not mutually exclusive.
“PennEast is committed to environmental stewardship and has teams of highly qualified professionals — including health and safety specialists, engineers, biologists, geologists, and archaeologists — dedicated to minimizing impact on the community and environment while allowing for safe construction and operation,” says Kornick, adding that already 2.6 million miles of pipelines across the United States exist harmoniously among rural and urban areas alike.
When pressed for the measures PennEast plans to take to ensure that no environmental costs will be made, the spokesperson spoke confidently.
“PennEast has spent the last 19 months evaluating numerous environmental and socio-economic factors critical to developing the best route and measures that will minimize impact.”
According to Kornick, these factors include public water supplies, wetlands, protected and preserved areas, threatened and endangered species, and wildlife.
As part of the FERC process, PennEast also must submit a comprehensive plan regarding what mitigation and restoration techniques will be implemented.
“In addition to the restoration plan, PennEast has developed an Erosion and Sediment Control Plan, as well as a Spill Prevention, Control and Countermeasure Plan. The plans are part of the application before FERC, which also will have a third-party monitor to oversee construction and ensure compliance with permits, regulations and industry best practices,” says Kornick.
The CCAP, however, is convinced the intentions of PennEast are not as advantageous for the local community as they say.
“Very few homeowners along the pipeline route will see one atom of this gas. The gas going through this pipe is meant for other regions, not ours, so the idea that anyone whose land would be taken, or whose communities would be disrupted would benefit from the gas is a straight up lie,” said Balogh,
Furthermore, despite assertions from PennEast denying the intentions of exporting natural gas overseas, the CCAP is not entirely convinced.
“Many of us believe that the gas will eventually go overseas where they may fetch more money for it than they do here. In the past year many laws have been either loosened or done away with in order to facilitate this very thing,” Balogh says. “The oil and gas export ban was recently done away with in order to make it easy for companies to export. So the only people to profit from this pipeline will be the CEO’s of UGI- the parent company of PennEast who will be handling the construction of the pipeline,” Balogh claims.
Additionally, the CCAP warns that the consumer may bear the burden twice cases- thanks to an accompanying caveat policy put in place when the PennEast Pipeline was first proposed called “Cost Recovery Mechanisms for Modernization.”
“That policy, which went through, means that pipeline companies may charge ratepayers for the entire cost of building the pipeline. This means they really have no outlay, no risk, etcetera, because all of the costs of building the pipeline will be made back by charging you, me, the entire region higher rates for their electricity and gas,” Urges Balogh. “No one but the private corporations behind the PennEast pipeline will profit from this.”
PennEast feels confident that the consumers will benefit greatly from the move to lay the pipeline.
“While some people might be opposed to natural gas development, the majority favors the use of safe, clean and affordable natural gas to heat their homes on a cold night and provide the electricity to recharge their phones and power their air conditioners, lights, computers and televisions” Kornick says.
Pending regulatory approvals, PennEast anticipates the Pipeline will be operational the second half of 2018, rather than late November 2017. Construction will take between approximately seven months and one year. Nearly every town along the route have passed a resolution against the pipeline.
For more information regarding the PennEast Pipeline and the campaign against the pipeline please visit www.PennEastPipeline.com and www.Stoppenneast.org, respectively.