A decision from the federal government regarding Spectra Energy’s proposed natural gas pipeline will not be made until this spring, according to notifications sent by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to residents over the holidays.
The company is proposing to run a gas line through Bayonne and Jersey City into New York City. Because of the pipeline’s close proximity to residential areas, local activists, Mayor Jerramiah Healy, and other city officials have argued that a natural gas explosion along the pipeline route could cause mass casualties and significantly damage important transportation infrastructure. Healy has said that the potential hazards posed by a gas pipeline will also hurt future commercial and residential development along 18th Street.
“The 27 minor route variations that were referenced in the notification are very minor.” – Marylee Hanley.
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FERC had previously planned to release its final Environmental Impact Statement on Jan. 27 and make a decision on the project within 90 days.
FERC had to revise its schedule, according to the notice from Division of Gas-Environment and Engineering Director Lauren H. O’Donnell, to incorporate revisions made by Spectra to the project.
In November, O’Donnell wrote, Spectra filed “27 reroutes and other project modifications…that must be analyzed and incorporated into the [final Environmental Impact Statement]. This requires a revised schedule.”
If approved by FERC, the proposed pipeline would include 19.8 miles of new and replacement pipes, six new stations, and other related modifications in Bayonne, Linden, and Jersey City near the Hoboken border. The pipeline would then cross the Hudson River into New York to connect Spectra’s existing pipeline in Manhattan and Staten Island, supplying customers of Con Edison.
Much of the pipeline route through Jersey City would be built underground through the 18th Street corridor, near the Holland Tunnel and the Newport residential community.
Changes don’t address city’s concerns
The reroutes and modifications filed in November, 2011 are modest, according to a Spectra spokesperson – and likely too modest to win the support of current pipeline opponents.
“We are aware of the route modifications,” said city spokeswoman Jennifer Morrill. “However, they are all minor and do nothing to address the city of Jersey City’s significant concerns.”
Spectra spokeswoman Marylee Hanley said, “The 27 minor route variations that were referenced in the notification are very minor, for example moving the pipeline a few feet, and should not have any material impact. These minor changes were made to accommodate land owner requests, to avoid sensitive environmental areas, utilities, and future development, and to minimize overall construction impacts to traffic.”
Among the adjustments proposed by Spectra in November, the company will cut the amount of workspace by a total of 1.07 acres to reduce the environmental impact on wetlands near Bayonne.
In one of the documents submitted in November, another representative from Spectra wrote to FERC: “[The] applicants are submitting revised project alignment sheets that reflect minor route variations designed to improve upon the proposed route described in the draft Environmental Impact Statement without requiring substantive changes to [FERC’s] environmental analysis or the conclusions included in the draft EIS…These route variations will have no impact on the scope or timing of construction.”
Hanley did not comment on which specific modifications pertain to Jersey City, although some of the materials submitted with the modifications provide more detail on Spectra’s plans. For example, the portion of the pipeline that is to be built near Jersey City’s 18th Street will be, according to the company, “constructed utilizing onshore and shallow water horizontal directional drill construction methods and equipment. The…contractor will utilize two horizontal directional drill spreads; one horizontal directional drill spread will be positioned on a 240 feet by 72 feet barge.
“This barge will be ballasted approximately 100 feet southwest of the…Hoboken Ferry Terminal and covered by a tent insulated with sound absorbing materials to minimize sound as well as visual disturbances. The second horizontal directional drill spread will be located near the Holbrook Manufacturing Company building [18th and Coles streets, Jersey City] and will also be enclosed in an insulated tent to mitigate sound and visual disturbances.”
This portion of 18th Street is not only close to the Hoboken Ferry Terminal, but is also close to the Hoboken Hudson-Bergen Light Rail station and not far from the PATH subway tubes.
City officials, who object to the pipeline current route and who want it rerouted under the Hudson River – away from residential communities and transportation infrastructure – said their concerns still are not addressed by Spectra’s revisions.
E-mail E. Assata Wright at awright@hudsonreporter.com.