Williams Cos. leaders in Tulsa await a decision by New Jersey regulators regarding the company’s $1 billion pipeline that would carry natural gas from Pennsylvania to New York City and Long Island.
The company already faced interference by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo before it won approval there. It had earlier been approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. But this week, New Jersey environmental officials will decide on permits for the proposed Northeast Supply Enhancement line. One will be for waterfront development and the other will be for wetlands work.
Williams had sought approval in order to transport natural gas to New York City and Long Island where consumers are converting from heating fuel. It contends the line can be built safely with minimal environmental disruption. But environmentalists contend it would reverse hard-won environmental improvements in Raritan Bay where the line would be laid under the ocean.
“It could kill the bay,” said Rich Isakson, president of the Belford Seafood Cooperative, a group of Raritan Bay fishermen. “Once you dig up all that stuff, it could take 40 years to settle down again. That’s prime fishing and crabbing grounds they’re going right through.”
The company counters that its construction method would retain “nearly all” of the sediment loosed during the pipe-laying in a trench, and that remaining sediments would stay in the lower half of the water column.
Williams and its customer, the National Grid utility, say the pipeline is needed in order to get the gas to customers. The utility says without the project, it may have to declare a moratorium on gas customer hookups. It is still taking applications from potential new customers but will not process them until after the project is approved, spokeswoman Wendy Ladd said.
“The existing pipeline system currently operates at maximum capacity and is unable to accommodate demand growth driven by fuel oil to natural gas conversions, as well as new development,” Williams spokesman Chris Stockton said.
Some objectors see an ulterior motive in the pipeline project: laying the groundwork for an offshore liquefied natural gas terminal that has repeatedly been rejected in the region on safety and environmental grounds, among others. Such a facility would allow natural gas to be loaded onto ships at sea and exported to other countries.
“This is a Trojan horse,” said Cindy Zipf, executive director of Clean Ocean Action, a New Jersey coastal environmental group. “The real money here is to have an LNG terminal to send that gas to Europe. The billions of dollars that would be possible by building an export facility would just be too enticing.”
Other environmental and fishing groups voiced similar suspicions about a liquefied natural gas terminal eventually being added to the project. Williams says it has no such plans, emphasizing that regulators are evaluating the plan solely for its stated purpose of bringing gas to New York and Long Island.
Last month, New York environmental officials rejected the application, saying it violated water quality standards. But the state made its decision “without prejudice,” allowing Williams to reapply, which it did almost immediately.
Jeff Tittel, director of the New Jersey Sierra Club, predicted that even a Department of Environmental decision against the company this week would not permanently halt the proposal.
“We need DEP to stand for ‘Deny Every Pipeline,’” he said. “These pipeline proposals are like Dracula: they keep coming back.”
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