Anti-fracking activists expressed outrage Tuesday that the government agency in charge of laying oil pipelines chose the summer vacation month of August to push through a pipeline project.
Tom Gilbert, director of the group New Jersey Conservation, and conservation group Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed Association are pushing the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to reverse course and prohibit the 118-mile PennEast pipeline from being laid. The pipeline could deliver natural gas to New Jersey from wells in Pennsylvania, provided protesters and do not attempt to stymie access points.
The U.S. produced 79 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day in 2015, shattering the previous record by 5 percent, according to the EIA. And most of that boom was centered in Pennsylvania, along with Ohio, West Virginia, Oklahoma, and North Dakota. These states accounted for more than a quarter of the country’s natural gas production while the rest of the country saw a modest decline.
Gilbert’s group claimed the pipeline would cause irreversible environmental damaged. It also implied the FERC scheduled hearings discussing the pipeline during summer months, when many activists are busy splashing in pools and sunbathing.
“The groups expressed outrage that the comment period is to take place over the most active vacation and back-to-school period of the year, which includes six public hearings packed into three consecutive days in mid-August,” the groups said in a joint press release. “In addition, none of the public hearings will be held in the towns that are along the pipeline route.”
The whole scheduling process almost makes it seem as though the FERC is hell-bent on discouraging public input, Gilbert said. “Let’s make sure that our voices are heard loud and clear.”
The Sierra Club, among other activists, have joined the two groups in opposing the pipeline’s review process, with Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed Association Executive Director Jim Waltman calling it a “rush job” to prevent citizens from recognizing the impact the pipeline may cause the environment.
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