Pinelands pipeline still needing approvals

Though it gained approval this week from the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU), a proposed 22-mile-long natural gas pipeline through the Pinelands still has hurdles to clear before work can begin, officials said Thursday.

The BPU on Wednesday endorsed changes to the planned South Jersey Gas pipeline, which would run through Upper Township in Cape May County, Maurice River Township in Cumberland County, and Estell Manor in Atlantic County.

The project - which has been opposed by environmentalists and conservationists - also would convert the B.L. England Generating Station at Beesleys Point in Upper Township from the use of coal to natural gas.

Amendments approved with the plan prohibit new customers from being connected to any portion of the pipeline in the Pinelands forest area, and allow an interconnection and regulator station to be relocated outside the preserve.

But South Jersey Gas, which has submitted a private application to the Pinelands Commission to build the pipeline, still must obtain a certificate of filing from the commission's staff. That certificate would let the utility seek permits from the BPU for the work.

"We believe that this filing meets the requirements of the Pinelands Comprehensive Management Plan," Dan Lockwood, manager of stakeholder relations for South Jersey Industries, parent company of the utility, said Thursday.

"If the staff of the Pinelands Commission concurs, they will issue a certificate of filing" to South Jersey Gas, he said. "The issuance of this certificate is made by the executive director or her staff and does not require the approval of the Pinelands commissioners."

The utility submitted an application for a certificate of filing in May to the commission, but it was determined by staff to be incomplete, officials said. Charles Horner, the commission's director of regulatory programs, requested more detailed information, such as the exact location of the proposed gas main in certain areas.

"Please note that we are continuing to review the newly submitted application information to determine whether the proposed natural gas main qualifies as a permitted land use in the Pinelands Forest Area," Horner wrote on June 22.

If the certificate is issued and permits are received, South Jersey Gas would return to the commission staff with documentation for the pipeline, which would again be reviewed to be sure the project follows the Comprehensive Management Plan of guidelines for proposed projects, officials said. If it does, work could begin.

"With regard to municipal approvals, state law provides that public utility projects spanning several towns may be approved by the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities upon petition by the public utility and following a public hearing," Lockwood said Thursday. "Upon BPU approval, a project may move forward without local municipal land use approvals.

"This type of waiver is not unusual for linear public utility projects, including electric transmission lines and natural gas pipelines that travel through multiple municipalities," he said. "In the case of our pipeline project, the BPU has held a public hearing regarding the filing, but has not acted on it as of this time."

John Reinert, a BPU spokesman, confirmed Thursday that South Jersey Gas' petition - filed under the Municipal Land Use law - is pending.

The 24-inch pipeline would run along the shoulder of Route 49 from Maurice Township through about 10 miles of forest area and then along Route 50 to Tuckahoe Road and an Atlantic City Electric right-of-way to the B.L. England plant.

In its examination of an earlier application, the Pinelands Commission staff determined that the pipeline did not meet the standards for private development in the protected forest management area, so the utility sought a memorandum of agreement that would allow the project to progress. The memorandum failed on a 7-7 vote of the commissioners in January 2014.

Changes to the plan have since been made, including the proposed relocation of the interconnection and regulator station from Marshall Avenue in Upper Township to an area outside the Pinelands forest areas on Mount Pleasant-Tuckahoe Road in the same municipality.

Opposition to the pipeline has been stiff. It has included four former governors: Brendan T. Bryne, Thomas H. Kean, Christie Whitman, and James J. Florio.

"This [BPU] decision puts the future of the Pinelands at stake and dismantles 40 years of Pinelands protections," said Jeff Tittel, director of the New Jersey Sierra Club, in a statement Wednesday. "It is not just about the pipeline; it will undo a successful growth management plan. . . .

"The pipeline would create irreversible harm to wetlands, streams, damaging important open spaces, and threaten our water supply," Tittel said. "It will threaten one of the largest sources of fresh drinking water on the East Coast."