A natural gas transportation plan has failed in New Jersey while another is moving forward

KEYPORT, NJ – A major pipeline that would have carried natural gas through New Jersey and under two bays to New York has been shut down, but another plan to transport liquid natural gas by tanker from Pennsylvania is moving forward.

Environmentalists who had opposed both projects responded Monday to the mixed record presented to them Friday as the two proposals took different paths with federal regulators.

That day, Tulsa, Oklahoma-based Williams Companies, which owns a nearly 10,000-mile (16,000-kilometer) pipeline called Transco, phased out its Northeast Supply Enhancement pipeline project. Williams told the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission that it was allowing a key construction application to expire and would not seek an extension for it.

The decision emboldened a large group of environmental and community groups that had fought the proposal for eight years, saying it would encourage the burning of fossil fuels and contribute to climate change while worsening air and water quality and raising safety concerns in the area would evoke communities along the proposed route.

Cindy Zipf, executive director of Clean Ocean Action, called the development “an extraordinary victory, a David and Goliath moment.”

Using the project’s acronym, she said: “NESE has breathed its last. That means the project died and we won!”

In a statement to The Associated Press on Monday, Williams confirmed that it was no longer seeking a certification from the federal agency that would allow it to move forward with the project.

“While Williams continues to believe in the fundamentals of the Northeast Supply Enhancement Project and its ability to provide consumers with a cleaner, more affordable alternative to expensive heating oil, we have decided not to seek a certificate extension at this time,” it said.

These included a gas-powered compressor station in Franklin Township and the installation of more than 23 miles (37 kilometers) of pipeline through Raritan and Lower New York Bays en route to the Rockaway section of Queens in New York City.

Also on Friday, two companies said they remain committed to their planned project to liquefy natural gas and transport it through Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

Delaware River Partners and Bradford County Real Estate Partners told the same agency that they do not plan to close a facility in Wyalusing, Pennsylvania, to liquefy natural gas and transport it to an export facility in Gibbstown, New Jersey, by tanker truck rather than rail as originally suggested. Last September, federal regulators suspended permits to transport liquefied natural gas by rail.

“The last thing we need is more dangerous methane gas being pumped out of Pennsylvania, trucked through our communities and exported overseas,” said Patrick Grenter, campaign director for the Sierra Club. “This decision is unnecessary and reckless, and the Sierra Club is prepared to continue fighting this project until it is officially canceled.”

The companies did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday.

But in a filing with the agency Friday, Bradford said its facility in Wyalusing, Pennsylvania, was designed not to require rail cars and was “unaffected” by the federal moratorium on such shipments. For this reason, the company is continuing to pursue its plans, it said.

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