The proposed PennEast pipeline would have a devastating and lasting effect on our land, water, forests and wildlife:
- The PennEast pipeline would cut through 67 bodies of water and over 15,186 feet of wetlands.
- Forty-nine of the streams to be crossed by the pipeline have been designated by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) as “Category One Waters” because of their “exceptional ecological, recreational or water supply significance,” or as an “exceptional fisheries resource.”
- PennEast proposes to cut a trench through some of these protected streams, buffers and wetlands, damaging water quality and important wildlife habitat. Wetlands also absorb and store floodwaters and provide water supply to streams.
- Once a buffer, stream or wetland is disturbed, these resources are never the same again. The NJDEP has determined that breaks or gaps in buffers reduce their effectiveness. 38 N.J.R. 3950(a) (2006)
- PennEast would clear thousands of acres of forest in New Jersey, fragmenting mature forests into smaller patches of habitat, reducing their value for forest-dependent wildlife and making these areas more susceptible to colonization by non-native invasive species that can out-compete native species.
- PennEast would carry gas extracted through the controversial practice of hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking.” According to the EPA, fracking poses a risk to drinking water.
