The PennEast Project, that 120 mile project that snakes through Pennsylvania and New Jersey, has been fought every step of the way. The Delaware Riverkeepers Network and the New Jersey Sierra Club led the fight for many years focusing first on the New Jersey side of the project. Pennsylvania people against this project began to unite a bit later but now, as of 2017, pretty much all the groups on both sides of the River have been mobilized. 

 

What do you need to know? Well, this project cuts a swath through all types of habitats that, during the construction phase, is allowed to extend to 400 feet, 200 on each side of the actual pipeline itself. Once construction is over, a right of way of no less than 125 feet would be maintained, the rest of the land damaged by the first phase to be remediated. That remediation mandate is supposed to include damage beyond the 400 feet to the places hurt by heavy equipment, traffic and temporary auxiliary building and development. However, this industry does not have a great track record for its remedial work, and in addition to that, some of the land that would be getting a pipeline is through deep forest and agricultural lands…. so how does one remediate unbroken forest once it is broken, or restore agricultural lands now taken out of farming because of the continuing right of way? How does one mitigate a pipeline and its damage when it is near to schools, churchyards, people’s backyards and commercial development…..that it comes so close that the right of way must continue to scar the land and remove it permanently from that land's original purpose? The answer is “you can’t.” But that is not what the company says. It continues to indicate that it is fully capable of not only placing the pipeline safely under any circumstances or land form difficulty (like the 300 foot drop off a rock escarpment for instance, or under all of the 88 streams and water crossings the plans indicate will have to happen), but will be able to keep land and people and pipelines separate and so preserve the pipeline’s structural integrity for say, forever. May i suggest that you go to the website created and maintained by Mike Spille called TheCostofthePipeline.com in order to actually see Mike’s Flyover videos of the actual path and see for yourself how the idea of being able to minimize the damage seems to be somewhat fantastical.

 

Pipelines leak. May I also suggest you take a look at this single listing of accidents regarding pipelines in order to come to your own conclusion? Take a look at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_pipeline_accidents_in_the_United_States_in_the_21st_century#2017 for just the latest leaks; this link also lists all of the others reported for other years as well. So how safe is this mode of transport? Not very. But wait, there are additional safety problems other than leaks. For example, Spectra is one of the five companies involved with this project. They are the company that owns and operates the pipeline that exploded in Western Pennsylvania in April of 2016, injuring one person, destroying one house and damaging others.

 

Pipelines also cause a reduction of public recreation and outdoor opportunities everywhere, and this one, Pipeline East, is destined to be doing just that in Pennsylvania, as it is slated to run through or across 30 parks and 33 other lands that already have conservation easements in place, a clear indication that they are lands both private and government entities deemed worthy of forever protection. Forever protection?? Not from this industry…..

 

And finally, pipelines would encourage more hydrofracturing, called “fracking” now by just about everyone, because if you have a pipeline you need to fill it all the time, right? This creates a whole other set of problems, and another article, i believe.