Lawsuit Filed To Block Proposed Natural Gas Pipeline In Pinelands
TRENTON, N.J., (CBS) -- Look for a court fight in an effort to block a natural gas pipeline from being installed in the New Jersey Pinelands.
The proposed 22 mile long line has been approved by the Pinelands Commission's Executive Director, who deemed the project requested by South Jersey Gas to be private development not subject to a commission vote. And the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities decided the plan did not require a review by affected municipalities.
Those actions prompted the filing of an appeal in Superior Court by the group Environment New Jersey and the Garden State division of the Sierra Club.
Club President Jeff Tittel told KYW Newsradio, "We believe that this pipeline not only will do a tremendous amount of environmental damage to the Pinelands, but we also believe how they did it, they manipulated the facts and violated the law."
The lawsuit contends the project is not private development because the pipeline will serve people outside the Pinelands.
"Court cases take time. So it'll take at least a year, maybe longer," Tittel said. "But we think we'll prevail because we believe they deliberately played games and manipulated the law to suit their purposes."
No comment on the suit from the Pinelands Commission or the BPU.