Delaware Township resident, artist & fierce pipeline opponent Jacqueline Evans tells the reporter the truth about PennEast & their unwanted & unneeded pipeline!
LAWRENCEVILLE – About 25 Central Jersey property owners and concerned citizens have joined a growing group of community activists monitoring the wetlands and other sensitive sites along the proposed route of the PennEast pipeline in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
They were part of a training session conducted Saturday at Rider University by the Delaware Riverkeeper Network of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, the same organization that filed suit against FERC last week for conflict of interest in regulating the construction of pipelines.
The attendees at Saturday’s session were all New Jersey residents. A similar group in Pennsylvania was trained the previous Saturday.
Faith Zerbe, director of monitoring for the Delaware Riverkeeper Network, led the training, which included but was not limited to identifying the wetlands that community groups contend will be adversely affected if the PennEast pipeline is built and identifying the endangered native species of flora and fauna whose habitats will be affected. Zerbe said the pipeline route is about 114 miles long, although it gets modified from time to time as the PennEast consortium of companies reroutes the pipeline to meet certain conditions on the ground. She said changes had come as recently as this past week.
Should it be built, PennEast’s 36-inch pipeline will begin in the fracking fields of Pennsylvania near Wilkes Barre and extend across the Delaware River into Hunterdon County, then follow the river south into Mercer County. The route affects 87 waterways, 54 wetlands, 23 parks and 31 easements across the two states. Impacted sites include the Delaware and Raritan Canal and several unnamed tributaries to the Delaware River.
“We are going through the PennEast aquatic resource reports to see what threatened and endangered species they have identified,” Zerbe said. “Then we are going out to find those species on the ground now, and we will continue to monitor them. Sometimes, the people who write these reports only consult maps and reports. They don’t actually visit the sites, and the maps and charts they consult may be out-of-date. Our monitoring can help prove how sensitive these resources are and help convince the regulatory authorities not to allow the pipeline to be built. ”
Some of the animals and plants that were discussed in the monitors’ training include the Indiana and Northern Long-eared bats, the Dwarf Wedge Muscle, the Atlantic and Short-nosed Sturgeon, the Bald Eagle, the Timber Rattlesnake, the Northern Flying Squirrel, the Bobolink, the Red-headed Woodpecker, the Wood Turtle, and the White-fringed orchid. A complete list of the endangered and threatened species in New Jersey can be found at http://www.nj.gov/dep/fgw/tandespp.htm.
In this preconstruction stage, Zerbe said, the monitors are really looking at wetlands and wildlife, to better bolster their arguments against the pipeline’s construction.
“We hope the pipeline is never built,” Zerbe added.
“The number of residents who have come out for this training shows clearly that we, the people, are not going to stop fighting this pipeline; rather, we are amping up our efforts. We will not let PennEast destroy our environment for profit,” said Kim Robinson, a Hopewell resident.
Delaware Township resident Jacqueline Evans owns a 6.51-acre farm on wetlands, with a stream flowing over one corner, as well as spring seeps and a pond. She raises goats, chickens, ducks and bees, practicing organic farming. She says if the PennEast pipeline is built, it will destroy her farm and her livelihood, and the stress is making her sick and scaring her three children. But she is determined to fight it.
“In 1994, a 36-inch gas pipe exploded in Edison, creating a huge fire and a crater that was at least 100 feet,” Evans said. “That pipe had 980 psi (pounds per square inch). But because the PennEast pipeline would cross two states, it would be built to federal standards, which are lower than New Jersey standards, so it would be a weaker pipe with about 1480 psi,” she said. “In the Edison fire, there was a safety valve every 2.5 miles and they still had trouble shutting it off. In the PennEast pipeline, they’re only going to have a safety valve every 10 miles. In fact, I had a 38-minute discussion with Jeff England, the project manager for UGI, the contractor for PennEast, and he said it would probably be even longer between safety valves because the area is less densely populated.”
Evans also pointed out the pipeline would be 150 to 180 feet from her house. If the Edison explosion created a crater that was at least 100 feet wide, she thinks that 150 feet isn’t enough of a safety buffer for her family, given her understanding that PennEast would use a weaker pipe with fewer safety features and at a much higher pressure.
For this and other reasons, she’s committed to fighting the pipeline to the fullest extent she can. She said that the pipeline proposal already has made it impossible to sell homes in Delaware Township, thus depriving her of her ability to send her daughters to college or to take care of her aging mother. And, she added, most mortgages have a clause that if a mortgagee leaves a property under conditions that have caused it to lose value, the mortgagor can call the loan to be paid in full.
Although she feels stressed, she said the opposition to the pipeline has united her community.
“We have wonderful people (in Delaware Township) and I have made so many great friends. This gives me strength,” she said.
Zerbe said that the Delaware Riverkeeper Network will be conducting more training sessions for people who want to monitor the sensitive wetlands and native species along the route. To find out more about future training sessions, contact her at faith@delawareriverkeeper.org or call her office at 215-369-1188, ext 110.
Delaware Township Citizens Against the Pipeline 