Public Hearing On South Jersey Gas Proposed Pipeline Through Pinelands Coming Up On Tuesday

Here's your chance to voice your opinion on whether South Jersey Gas should be allowed to build a a pipeline through a sensitive portion of the New Jersey Pinelands.

The Pinelands Commission will hold a public hearing on Tuesday starting at 9:30 a.m. at St. Ann's R.C. Church in the parish conference room at 22 Trenton Road in Brown Mills. Each person is limited to three minutes for comment, according to the Commission website.

The proposed new pipeline will run approximately 22 miles total underground, from just outside Millville in Maurice River Township, Cumberland County, through Estell Manor to Beesley’s Point in Upper Township, Cape May County, according to the company's website.

The pipeline will add a second transmission line which will reinforce the gas system and provide customers with more reliability. It will also repower the B.L. England plant to reinforce the available power supply and reduce air emissions, according to SNJ.

But exempting SNG from Pinelands Regulations violates the Pinelands Plan and the Pinelands act, and is forbidden in the sensitive Forest Area, according to the New Jersey Sierra Club.

Critics contend that the approval of the pipeline will encourage other types of private development and will bring water and air pollution to the region. The pipeline itself will not benefit the Pinelands region, but will help repower the B.L. England nuclear facility, they say.

Image: New Jersey Chapter of the Sierra Club