Letter to Editor: Fight Pinelands Pipeline to Power Plant

Dear Editor:

South Jersey Gas is planning to put a 24-inch steel gas pipe through our country’s first National Reserve – The Pinelands – in order to fulfill the profit needs of its shareholders. This is a very dangerous step towards the destruction of the very core of New Jersey. There is no turning back if this pipeline is approved.

The South Jersey Gas Plant would replace the BL England coal-fired plant in Beesley’s Point which is a Peak Demand generator of electricity. Meaning it operates approximately 40 days a year when electricity demands are at the highest. The gas plant would run 24 hours, 7 days a week. Noise, pollution and danger! Makes one wonders whether the eventual goal is to export gas. 

We do not need this plant. Alternative energy sources could easily replace BL England, i.e. Wind and Solar. This gas pipeline project is on the fast-track to approval.

It will pass along roadsides – Route 49, 60, Tuckahoe Road, Estell Manor, 49 feet under Mill Creek, and 41 feet under Cedar Swamp Creek, thereby placing entire communities and eco-systems at risk. 

The 22 miles of pipes will have to be joined in segments; creating a real risk of leakage of not only Methane, but radioactive gas as well, if derived from the Marcellus Shale. High concentrations of Radium are released by fracking. Radon is a decay product of Radium. Fragile ecosystems as well as humans can be fatally damaged by these gases, even in small amounts. Seepage into the aquifers is also a possibility.

The track record of pipeline monitoring is abysmal. There are not enough workers to inspect the 2.5 million miles of U.S. gas pipelines. Only 7% of all natural gas lines are subject to rigorous inspection criteria.

Permission is being sought from the Pinelands Commission which was formed 40 years ago in response to plans to construct offshore drilling platforms and run transportation pipes across the Pinelands to the refineries on the Delaware. According to the Pinelands Comprehensive Management Plan (CMP), infrastructure in the Forest area is permitted only when it is, “intended to primarily serve the needs of the Pinelands”. There is no exception for pipes running along or under roads. Construction and maintenance of these pipes are not done surgically. They disrupt vulnerable habitats and pose potential catastrophes.    

In 1983 the area was designated a U.S. Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO an agency of the United Nations, and in 1988 it was recognized as an International Biosphere Reserve.   There are 43 animal species listed by Fish and Wildlife within the Pinelands National Reserve that are seen as Threatened or Endangered.  The list does not include marine mammals or sea turtles that are endangered.  There are 92 protected plants in this area as well

The Pinelands Reserve is the largest body of open space on the Mid-Atlantic seaboard between Richmond and Boston and is underlain by aquifers containing 17 trillion gallons of some of the purest water in the land.

To paraphrase E.O Wilson, "Destroying forests for economic gain is like burning a Renaissance painting to cook a meal."  Profiteers are not the conscience of our society. We are the conscience. Stop this Keystone XL a.k.a. Pinelands Pipeline in our very neighborhood.

Sincerely,

Georgina Shanley