Pipelines

New Jersey already has 1,500 miles of pipelines and is now facing an onslaught of proposed gas transmission lines and gas-fired power plants throughout the state. Many of these projects target preserved lands or protected natural areas such as the Pinelands National Preserve.

It’s impossible to imagine a future pipeline expansion that would be justified anywhere in our state. Research clearly shows that New Jersey has substantial excess pipeline capacity to meet its needs — even during extreme cold periods, or if all remaining coal and nuclear plants are retired.

These projects threaten our public and private lands, our streams and drinking water, the quality of our air, and the health and safety of our communities. Take action and ask your elected leaders to support greater investment in renewable, efficient energy — not damaging, unneeded fossil fuels.

Building the pipeline would increase costs to New Jersey energy consumers and become increasingly wasteful and irrelevant as the state continues to adopt clean, renewable energy sources.

The report’s key findings include:

• PennEast’s self-dealing contracts don’t reflect genuine market demand — the project is driven by the opportunity to earn an excessive 14 percent annual rate of return.
• By creating a natural gas glut, PennEast would increase costs to New Jersey consumers by an estimated $180 million to $280 million per year.

The bottom line: State law requires that we move aggressively toward 80 percent lower emissions by 2050, which requires a major decline in natural gas consumption. And New Jersey already relies on fossil fuels for much of its electric generation, heating, and cooling. Building unnecessary pipelines like PennEast will increase costs and emissions, taking the state in the wrong direction.

New Jersey contains more than 6,000 miles of aging, leak-prone cast iron and unprotected steel gas distribution lines — more than any other state. These lines run through our homes, neighborhoods, schools, churches, and playgrounds. These pipes leak. Even worse, they can explode. We need to make our current gas infrastructure safer at the same time as we expand renewable energy.