Residents continue pipeline fight
Carbon County landowners are continuing their fight against PennEast’s proposed pipeline, which is now expected to be constructed in two phases.
On Thursday, Linda Christman, president of Save Carbon County, and Joe Plechavy of Lehighton, spoke to the board of commissioners about how the effects of the project would hurt the county and requested the board again re-register as an intervenor for phase 1 of the project.
Plechavy, who lives just south of the Pennsylvania State Police barracks along Route 209, said he will lose approximately $13,000 in Christmas trees if the project is constructed.
“I have a small Christmas tree farm that I planned to use for my retirement to supplement my income,” he said, noting that if the project moves forward and is built, some of his property will be unplantable for at least a decade due to either the pipeline or the machinery constructing the pipeline compacting the soil so much that regular plowing won’t be able to fix it for years.
“I don’t see a reason for the pipeline,” Plechavy said.
Christman, who has been vocal about the project from the beginning, said that the pipeline phases will have damaging effects on Carbon County’s environment and economy.
In January, PennEast Pipeline Company announced it was filing an amendment to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, seeking to build phase one, including 68 miles of pipe and the portion running through Carbon and Monroe counties, entirely within Pennsylvania and ready to deliver natural gas by November 2021.
The second phase would include the remaining route in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, with a targeted completion of 2023.
“In the years since the initial announcement of the project, demand for natural gas has continued to grow, yet the benefits of new job creation, economic development, air quality and lower energy bills have been denied to all customers by shortsighted political interests,” said Anthony Cox, chair of the PennEast Pipeline Company Board of Managers.
“Building the project in phases allows PennEast to meet the clear public need in the short term in Pennsylvania, and in the long term in New Jersey by affording sufficient time for permit and legal issues to be resolved.”
Under the phased approach, PennEast will have within Pennsylvania three delivery points: UGI Utilities Inc. (to serve the Blue Mountain Ski Resort) and new interconnections with Columbia Gas and Adelphia Gateway to serve the growing demand in the southeast region.
According to PennEast, no new private property owners will be impacted by the first phase of the project, which would terminate in Bethlehem Township, Northampton County. The new interconnections, which would be located south of Route 22 and west of Route 33, would be constructed on property already owned by PennEast.
Last week, FERC granted PennEast a two-year extension for the project, extending the completion date to Jan. 19, 2022.
