PennEast Pipeline foes criticize Drexel over study

Opponents of the proposed 110-mile PennEast Pipeline on Wednesday criticized Drexel University's participation in a study that estimates the natural gas project will support 12,000 jobs and have a $1.6 billion economic impact through a construction phase ending in 2017.

The activists questioned Drexel's participation in the study because Lon Greenberg, former chief executive of UGI Inc., which is building the pipeline, serves on a 37-member advisory board to the university's LeBow School of Business Corporate Governance Center.

Opponents including the Delaware Riverkeeper Network, the Clean Air Council, and the New Jersey Sierra Club said the study failed to take into account the pipeline's negative economic effects. They said Greenberg's involvement "suggests a concerning conflict of interest."

The groups are organizing a petition and a social-media campaign aimed at Drexel officials.

The university dismissed the complaints, saying Drexel professor Vibhas Madan and Econsult Solutions' Steve Mullin conducted a "simple standard input-output analysis" based on data provided by PennEast.

"This was neither a cost-benefit analysis of the project nor an endorsement of it," Drexel spokeswoman Niki Gianakaris said in an e-mail. "This was a straight analysis of employment, fiscal, and potential price effects of the project."