Hitting back at environmental groups, the PennEast pipeline company said Thursday they have no plans to re-route the $1 billion project through Bucks County on its way to New Jersey.
The groups, namely the New Jersey Sierra Club and Delaware Riverkeeper Network, have been spreading misinformation, and “regurgitating old rumors,” about a possible route change for the 110-mile pipeline, PennEast charged in a statement.
“PennEast is not recommending or proposing a new route that goes through central Bucks County. Any claims suggesting otherwise by the Delaware Riverkeeper Network, New Jersey Sierra Club or others are flat-out false,” PennEast spokeswoman Pat Kornick said.
Not long after issuing the statement, the Sierra Club’s Jeff Tittel pounced, saying it’s PennEast that is dealing in misinformation, and that his group is only using PennEast data, and the pipeline company is now promoting “alternative facts.”
“PennEast is deliberately trying to downplay what they are up to because they are trying to mislead and block the people of Pennsylvania to fight back like New Jersey has,” Tittel said Thursday. “If this isn’t an alternative route for their damaging and destructive pipeline, then they should just withdraw it and stop putting out misinformation.”
The 36-inch-diameter natural gas pipeline’s proposed route will take it from Luzerne County, Pa. to New Jersey, and through Hunterdon and Mercer counties before ending at a location in Hopewell Township. A connector pipeline will link it to an existing compressor in West Amwell.
Feds push back PennEast environmental statement
Along the way, two miles of pipe will travel through Durham Township, in the northern tip of Bucks County.
But the route dispute arises from a late November PennEast filing with federal regulators.
PennEast said they provided a hypothetical route into Bucks County that required an additional 20 miles of length and two Delaware River crossings. The company only floated the route in response to a technical data request from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service concerning an area designated as an Important Bird Area, or IBA.
In a statement then, in which they rebutted Tittel comments, PennEast said they would prefer to stick with the original, planned, route. “It is preferable to utilize the currently proposed route and minimize impacts to the IBA and migratory birds by utilizing the appropriate avoidance and minimization measures,” it said.
And PennEast says they are sticking by their only other route changes, which were from September 2016, and were made due to input from landowners and agencies.
“PennEast is not recommending a route through central Bucks County, nor has it submitted the route to FERC as a proposed alternative,” Kornick said Thursday.
PennEast surveys incomplete, route could change, N.J. DEP says
The Sierra Club, in November, attacked the 20-mile route that company said was hypothetical as an way for PennEast to dodge permit rules and regulatory hurdles, and make it easier to build the pipeline.
“This would cause much more environmental devastation and destruction along the way. The longer route means more wetlands and streams will be disrupted and polluted by drilling,” Tittel said them
And last week, the Delaware Riverkeeper Network, New Jersey Sierra Club and Concerned Citizens Against the Pipelines held a public forum that addressed “possible re-routes through Bucks County.”
PennEast maintains that the project will reduce energy costs and support thousands of jobs with clean-burning, American energy.
The Sierra Club maintains that the pipeline is an environmental nightmare that will cut a scar through communities, preserved open space and farmland and is an organized front for major utilities companies in case it explodes or causes a natural disaster.
Kornick said if anyone has questions for PennEast can reach out to the company directly at 844-347-7119 or at answers@penneastpipeline.com.
Kevin Shea may be reached at kshea@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter@kevintshea. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
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