Good News for LNG Opponents

by: kwilkinson

Fri Aug 06, 2010 at 06:33:20 PM EDT

In June, Perth Amboy passed a resolution opposing a proposal from Liberty Natural Gas to run 36" pipelines, buried 3 feed deep, by 2 schools, commuter rail lines, residential developments and oil tank farms!  The Home News got a couple of good quotes:

"It's right through the heart of the city," said Michael Keller, the city's director of economic and community development. "Someday something will happen"...  

The majority of the line would parallel existing transportation and pipeline corridors and also would connect with existing natural gas infrastructure. Keller said the new pipeline off Asbury Park would go around Sandy Hook through the Raritan Bay before coming ashore in Perth Amboy, along railroad tracks at an old junkyard adjacent to the Robert N. Wilentz Elementary School on Second Street. He said the natural gas would travel through a 36-inch pipeline buried 3 feet below ground past the city's train station, Hidden Village housing development, Edward J. Patten Elementary School and Harbortown housing development, under the Outerbridge Crossing, past the Kinder Morgan industrial property, and past Chevron, Hess and the northeast redevelopment area.

"Three feet down is ridiculous," said Keller, who also questions if there would be any surveillance of the pipeline. In March 1994, a leak in a 36-inch Texas Eastern natural gas pipeline next to the Durham Wood apartment complex in nearby Edison sent flames shooting into the night sky that were visible from Pennsylvania to New York. Eight apartment buildings were destroyed and many people left homeless. One woman died from a heart attack... [S]aid Perth Amboy Fire Chief David Volk, whose department responded to the Durham Woods explosion. "It's an accident waiting to happen." Volk said with the pipeline only three feet underground the possibility of someone, or even a train derailment, splitting it open is real.

In 2003, a natural-gas leak leveled a three-story building on New Brunswick Avenue in Perth Amboy, Volk said... a gas pipeline through Perth Amboy is a "grave concern," especially since there are many residences near the railroad right-of-way."It's an extreme danger. Why throw gasoline onto a fire? It doesn't make a lot of sense," he said.

Woodbridge responded by staying on the fence.

John Hagerty, Woodbridge spokesman, said the proposed pipeline would follow the New Jersey Turnpike through parts of Sewaren and Woodbridge proper, but would not have an major impact on the township. "Our Township Council is aware of it. We have yet to take a position," Hagerty said.

We were pleased to see that Perth Amboy's mayor
and council took a strong stand against Liberty
Natural Gas' proposal for liquefied natural gas (LNG)
pipelines in the city ("Perth Amboy Opposes Plan to
Run Gas Pipeline Through City"). It is not a good
idea to place dangerous pipelines near schools,
commuter rail lines, residences and oil tank farms.

Proposed facilities off the New Jersey shore with
seabed pipelines would destroy fish habitat,
endanger marine life, risk spills and explosions,
and restrict recreational and commercial fishing.
The industry is more interested in profits than safety
or impact on the environment, as we see so
tragically in the Gulf.

Perth Amboy determined that the project was not in
the best interest of the residents. Neither would it be
in the best interest of the citizens of any of the other
towns on potential pipeline routes, including
Woodbridge, Edison, Metuchen and Sayreville.

We second Perth Amboy's call to other
municipalities and Middlesex County to pass
resolutions opposing risky projects that invest in
fossil fuels. On Earth Day, Gov. Christie, whose
approval is needed, announced his opposition to
any offshore LNG facilities. We commend those
public servants who are moving us towards clean,
renewable energy.