http://interfaxenergy.com/gasdaily/article/21740/penneast-pipeline-wins-backing-from-utility-company

You won’t be able to read the details unless you’re a subscriber, but it doesn’t really matter.  The big news is that a major utility company in New Jersey, South Jersey Gas, has backed the PennEast pipeline project.  Exciting, right?  You can read their full submission to FERC here:

http://elibrary.ferc.gov/idmws/common/OpenNat.asp?fileID=14340008

In the glowing recommendation, South Jersey Gas President Jeffrey E. DuBois talks about the “much needed” gas from PennEast, how it will “improve natural gas reliability”, and even threw in a bit of scare mongering about the polar vortex winer and how you could be paying 25x your current costs if PennEast doesn’t ride to the rescue and save us all.

But wait, then curiously he goes on to say:

“The PennEast planning team continues to solicit input on the proposed route even though they have already evaluated more than 100 route options and implemented multiple route modifications to advance safe pipeline construction and operations while minimizing impact on the community and environment“.

You know, it almost sounds like Mr. DuBois is not just a buyer on the pipeline, but is an insider and knows about internal PennEast planning. How could that be?

Oh, yeah, right, I forgot. South Jersey Gas is owned by South Jersey Industries, who owns 20% of PennEast Pipeline Company LLC.

So when you look behind the curtains, what Mr. DuBois is really excited about is sending tens of millions of dollars a year of new revenue to his bosses up at South Jersey Industries.  And presumably getting compensated quite nicely for the favor in turn.