"PEMBERTON TOWNSHIP, N.J. (AP) — Officials have rejected a plan to build a natural gas pipeline through New Jersey's Pinelands, and the company behind the project isn't sure what its next move will be.
South Jersey Gas wants to build a 22-mile pipeline to connect with a power plant that's switching from coal to natural gas.
The pipeline would run through the Pinelands, which are protected by state and federal law. The idea is pitting business and labor unions against environmentalists.
The proposal was rejected Friday by the New Jersey Pinelands Commission, which fell one vote short of approving it. The commission is tasked with protecting the ecologically fragile region while supervising responsible economic development within it. Gas company spokesman Dan Lockwood says it is considering its options."
The vote was 7-7--close, but at least for now, the Jersey Pine Barrens will not become the latest casualty of the fracking industry.
Congratulations to Don't gas the Pinelands! (http://www.delawareriverkeeper.org/resources/Factsheets/Information%20High%20Pressure%20Gas%20Pipeline%20through%20the%20New%20Jersey%20Pinelands.pdf), who, according to Georgina Shanley, is calling for the immediate resignation of the Executive Director of Pinelands Commission Nancy Wittenberg and Counsel Stacey Roth they tried to sell the Pinelands for $8million.
Congratulations also to Kevin Heatley, Shale Justice Coalition, for the excellent presentation in which he showed just what sort of damage this would have generated.
South Jersey Gas Company wants to run a 22 mile pipeline (carrying fracked gas) through the New Jersey Pinelands – an internationally designated UNESCO Biosphere Reserve (http://www.pinelandsalliance.org/protection/hotissues/development/southjergasline/).
It is supposedly protected by the Pinelands Commission but the commission has been compromised and is about to allow an exemption to the Comprehensive Plan. South Jersey Gas claims they are using it to change the BL England coal plant over to gas. But the plant is located on Egg Harbor – next to the Ocean. It’s an easy speculation what that location portends–global transport.
http://vimeo.com/77555103
This is not rocket science.
This is a moral imperative.
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