Northeast Supply Enhancement Project
The Northeast Supply Enhancement Project, a bid by the Oklahoma company Williams Transco, calls for building a new fracked gas pipeline from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, through Middlesex and Monmouth Counties in New Jersey, to New York City.
The pipeline threatens to pollute some of the region’s most ecologically important waterways, including the Raritan Bay. The project also would require building a compressor station near the Trap Rock Quarry in Franklin Township and would involve cutting down forests, crossing three streams, and impacting wetlands that include habitat for endangered species.
The project will cause environmental damage to the Garden State and provide no benefits to the state.
Transco’s earlier application was rejected in June and its current application, with very few revisions, was resubmitted to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. But in mid-October, 2019, the company withdrew three out of four permit applications filed with the agency. The move was taken before NJDEP could make a decision, presumably because the company thought the applications would be rejected.
The company, which has indicated it would resubmit permit applications again and will continue with this project, still needs permits from New York authorities.
