This is part of the 3D flyover video series of the PennEast routes. In this installment, I like at one of the so-called “IBA-Avoidance” routes, in this case the Baldpate IBA Avoidance Route.

There has been a lot of confusion about these routes (mostly engendered by PennEast), but in reality it’s pretty simple.  The US Fish & Wildlife (USF&W) service asked FERC to ask PennEast to avoid what are called Important Bird Areas, or IBAs.  In response to this, PennEast came up with a number of routes to miss those IBAs entirely.  PennEast claims that the impacts of these routes are too large so FERC should ignore them, but that’s not how this game works.  In reality, these are official alternatives before FERC, and we’ll have to wait and see what FERC does with them.  They are clearly lousy routes, but they’re out there now.

Because the Baldpate IBA is so long (25 miles!), I’ve broken it into two pieces . Well, really three, but the third piece is fairly uninteresting (if anyone wants it please give me a shout and I’ll get it captured and published).

These route maps were created by overlaying the very crude and high altitude PennEast maps into Google Earth, and then tracing the map route with a Google Earth Path.  As such we have no real detail, just a fairly wide zone where  the pipeline could go.  Mostly this is tracking existing pipeline routes and/or electric lines along the way.  The potential route is in red of course.

Part 1 starts in Lambertville, and goes west under the Delaware River and into Bucks County PA.  At 57 seconds you can see it going into the Giant shopping center, going between the liquor store and the Giant.

Part 2 continues where part 1 left off, and shows it going through many residential areas.  And then it gets weird.  At 1:37 we see not one, but two quarries.  The pipeline is routed right at the very edge of two yuge quarry pits.