Holmdel To Consider Next Move Against NJ Natural Gas Proposal

HOLMDEL, NJ — The Township Committee will decide at its next meeting if it will continue to challenge a plan by New Jersey Natural Gas to locate a regulator station here.

Mayor DJ Luccarelli said the committee had hoped to meet with its special counsel handling the matter via a conference call on Tuesday, but the attorney was not available.

The township has been involved in continuing litigation with the gas company regarding a proposal to build a regulator station at 960 Holmdel Road in the southern part of the Township. The proposal got its latest go ahead recently from the state Board of Public Utilities.

Fox Hollow Vineyards, located at 939 Holmdel Road, is owned by the Casola family and Kim Casola spoke at the meeting, urging the committee to keep fighting the plan.

"New Jersey Natural Gas has reared its head again," she told the committee Tuesday.

She said Gov. Murphy wants the state to reduce greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels, and that should mean a reduction in natural gas use - making such a project unnecessary. She also said she didn't think the company is being "forthright" about the scope of the project.

Luccarelli said there are are limited legal options for the town to discuss, but "we have a window for appeal."

The township will still have time to discuss the matter later in January before the appeal deadline of Feb. 3, Township Attorney Michael Collins added.

He said the matter is in active litigation so the committee could not comment much beyond what it has.

"We are all very disappointed in the decision, but the town will continue to take this seriously," Luccarelli said.

The committee earlier in June vowed to keep pushing back on a petition by New Jersey Natural Gas to locate a regulator station here, despite a favorable ruling for the utility at that time.

An administrative law judge issued an initial ruling in May to allow the NJNG petition to continue.

The judge’s decision had been sent to the Board of Public Utilities (BPU) for review and it was to make its decision in the matter, which it now has, ruling against the town.

A regulator station reduces pressure on the underground natural gas pipelines that already exist in the area, running underneath the ground in Holmdel Township and throughout Monmouth County, the utility says.

In 2018, when the project was first proposed, Kevin Roberts, a spokesman for NJ Natural Gas, told Patch "the regulator station itself is needed to support the reliability of NJNG's distribution system. It will replace a temporary station that is currently in operation, but that is not designed or suitable to support the system permanently."

The regulator station will consist primarily of underground piping, a 15-foot tall ventilated heating unit, a control box and two regulator runs that will be located above ground.

Still, environmental advocates say Holmdel's preserved farmland, homes, the nearby Village Elementary School and the Swimming River Watershed are not the place for a regulator station.

"This is an industrial natural gas regulator station that will pollute the land, pollute our waters and will be a major nuisance to the community," Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club, said in the 2018 interview with Patch.

"The proposal will bring in air pollution right next to preserved farmland and near the Swimming River Reservoir."

However, NJ Natural Gas argues the proposed regulator station will not have any adverse impact on air quality or pollution impacts on water quality, based on existing standards already set by the NJ Dept. of Environmental Protection and the federal EPA.