N.J. groups take anti-pipeline battle to court
The Sierra Club of New Jersey and Environment New Jersey announced Thursday they had filed suit against the state Board of Public Utilities and the Pinelands Commission for authorizing construction of a natural gas pipeline through protected Pinelands forest.
The Sierra Club of New Jersey and Environment New Jersey announced Thursday they had filed suit against the state Board of Public Utilities and the Pinelands Commission for authorizing construction of a natural gas pipeline through protected Pinelands forest.
The two groups are asking the Appellate Division to overturn those approvals on grounds that the pipeline is not a permitted use in parts of the Pinelands where it would run.
In August the commission's director, Nancy Wittenberg, determined that a proposal by South Jersey Gas to build the pipeline was consistent with the preserve's Comprehensive Management Plan, even though the commission's board had rejected the project in 2014.
"This unilateral decision circumvented a public hearing and further vote by the Pinelands Commission, which we believe is against the Pinelands Protection Act," Sierra Club director Jeff Tittel said in announcing the lawsuit, which was filed Wednesday.
The proposed 22-mile pipeline would run from Maurice Township in Cumberland County to a converted gas-fired electrical generation plant in Cape May County.
It has been vigorously opposed by environmental groups and four former governors, but strongly supported by Gov. Christie, Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D., Gloucester), trade unions, and Upper Township, where the existing coal-fired plant would be converted to gas-fired.
"The South Jersey Gas pipeline will destroy environmentally sensitive land, threaten our water supply, and keep a polluting power plant outside of the Pinelands open," Tittel said Wednesday.
He said the two environmental organizations chose not enroll other organizations as co-plaintiffs "because this is a very complicated case with many moving parts," and they wanted a free hand to steer the litigation.
They will be represented by New Jersey Appleseed Public Interest Law Center, based in Newark.
The BPU and the Pinelands Commission declined comment Thursday, saying it was a matter of pending litigation. Both will be represented by the Attorney General's Office.
South Jersey Gas did not return a request for comment.
Despite the size of the project and the debate over its legality and merits, Wittenberg used a provision of the commission's bylaws that permits commission staff, rather than the 15-member board, to determine if a construction project is consistent with the Pinelands' charter.
That authority is usually exercised for small projects, such as construction of a garage or mini-mart.
The Comprehensive Management Plan bars utilities from building in designated Pinelands forest areas unless they are intended to serve residents of those areas.
But Wittenberg, who serves at the discretion of Christie, determined last year that because the electrical generation plant is in a Pinelands area - albeit outside protected forest - and serves local customers, it meets the criteria for overriding the ban on utilities.
Four months later the BPU decided in a 3-0 vote that the project did not require review by the municipalities through which it would pass, giving a green light to the project unless the appeals court overturns the approvals.
If converted to gas, the B.L. England power plant, owned by Rockland Capital of Austin, Texas, would continue to sell electricity to the PJM grid, which provides power in 13 states.
Several members of the Pinelands Commission said last year they would have preferred to hold hearings and vote on the project.
Commission Chairman Mark Lohbauer said that while South Jersey Gas' strategy for bypassing the board appeared to be legal, "it raises the issue of whether the [commission's] bylaws need to be revised."
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