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My Speech at the HALT “No certification without Justification” event today

This is the kickoff speech I gave at the HALT event today at the Prallsville Mill in Stockton.

Good afternoon.   Today I’m not going to speak about our rights, or about all of our many emotional impacts and trials of this proposed project on every one involved, or even draw conclusions.  What I’m going to do is hit you all with some numbers and some simple words, and let you decide what it all means.

5 – the number of PennEast owners left.  PSEG is gone.  Now there are just the owners of New Jersey Natural Gas, South Jersey Gas, eTown Gas, UGI, and Spectra Energy.

1.1 billion cubic feet – Amount of natural gas PennEast will carry per day.

2.1 billion cubic feet- Amount of natural gas the entire state of NJ uses in a day

53% – amount of massive over capacity PennEast represents for the State

Displace – what PennEast owners say PennEast gas will do.  Not “add to existing supply” – displace existing supplies we already have.

Boom and Bust – What happens when you let industry run unchecked.

ON WHY ARE THEY DOING THIS?

62% – amount of self dealing contracts where PennEast is buying gas from itself

12% – PennEast’s guaranteed rate of return on PennEast investment

10% – PennEast would represent 10% of South Jersey Industries’ Total Income if built

5-10% – Projected Net Financial Earnings of PennEast to New Jersey Resources.

“FERC-Level” Returns – NJR Quote on why they want to build PennEast

All of us – who will pay for it all

Go Up – what our natural gas and electrical rates will do if PennEast is approved

ON JOBS

250 – Total number of local construction Jobs PennEast will bring to NJ

7 – total number of weeks those people will be working.

10 – Total number of permanent NJ jobs

To reiterate – 250 construction jobs for 7 weeks only. 10 or less permanent jobs after.

ON SURVEYS AND KNOWLEDGE

70% – The percentage of impacted landowners in NJ who have refused survey access

100% – Percentage of hold outs who we believe will fight all the way to eminent domain

0 – the number of wells FERC and PennEast still think are within 150’ of any PennEast construction.  Even as of the Final EIS that dropped yesterday, they still have no clue about any of our wells or septic systems.

2 1/2 – 2 1/2 years is the number of years FERC and PennEast still don’t know about our wells and septic systems!

Nearly 0 – The amount of environmental damage FERC believes PennEast will cause

0 – FERC’s and PennEast’s apparent actual knowledge of our region

ON SAFETY

1 inch – what NJ regulations would require for PennEast pipeline’s thickness for safety

1/2 inch – The actual thickness PE will use under lax federal regulations

44% – how much safer NJ regulations are than Federal regulations PE will follow

44% – How much less federal regulations value rural lives

1,480.  PennEast pressure on each and every square inch of the pipeline.

81’ – distance of construction to my neighbor on Hewitt Road

10′ – distance of construction from house on Old 518 West in West Amwell

450 – the number of homes and structures  within 50’ of the pipeline construction.

11,574 cubic feet/second – equivalent of 1 billion cubic feet/day

90 – Equivalent gallons of gasoline burning per second if PennEast were breached

980′ – the Federal “Potential Impact Radius” or “blast zone” or “incineration zone”

100% – Percentage of structures and homes that would be utterly destroyed within 50’ of a pipeline breach.

2 – the number of children we adopted last year

167′ – the distance from the pipeline to my 5 year old daughter’s bedroom

177’ – distance from the pipeline to my 8 year old son’s bedroom

Thousands – number of homes like ours within the 980’ “Potential Impact Radius”

THOSE ARE THE FACTS OF WHO PennEast is,

THEY ARE NOT IN DISPUTE.

THIS IS WHAT IT IS, AND WHAT THEY WILL DO

I LEAVE IT TO YOU ALL TO YOU DECIDE if this is right for our region.

IS THIS RIGHT FOR US?

Video discussion of PennEast Timelines

I put together a small slide deck showing the PennEast regulatory timelines for the HALT meeting this month at the Prallsville Mill in Stockton.  At the Mill I walked the attendees through the various high (and low) points of it.  I’ve recorded a video of the animated deck and tried to recreate the walkthrough as narrative on top of it, that video is available below.

 

3D Fly0ver videos near Lake Harmony, PA MP 30 to MP 23

This is part 19 of the 3D flyover video series of the PennEast routes. In this installment, we look at the route near Lake Harmony, PA from mile posts 30 to 23.

As always, the 400′ survey corridor is in smokey gray, the pipeline 50′ permanent easement line is in red, and the light blue areas are temporary construction zones. There is also a 100′ construction right of way not shown here.

I have also begun organizing these videos, they are all available under the “3D Flyover Videos” top navigation area.
This whole section of the route, and extending north into the next areas all run through parks and state game lands.  You can see the reality from an overview shot from 40,800 feet here:
Screen Shot 2017-03-15 at 11.51.01 AM
This shows PennEast’s true nature.  Dirt cheap land acquisition costs coupled with enormous environmental impacts.

3D Flyover Video of PennEast Pipeline Route in Vicinity of Bath, PA (MP 67 to 60)

This is part 15 of the 3D flyover video series of the PennEast routes. In this installment, we look at the route in the vicinity of Bath, PA between mileposts 67 and 60.

As always, the 400′ survey corridor is in smokey gray, the pipeline 50′ permanent easement line is in red, and the light blue areas are temporary construction zones. There is also a 100′ construction right of way not shown here.

 I have also begun organizing these videos, they are all available under the “3D Flyover Videos” top navigation area.
 
This section of the route consists of extensive agricultural impacts, with some light residential impacts as well.  It finishes up right at a golf course, with the pipeline centerline coming within 200′ of some of the greens.
I’ll be damned if I can see any co-location at all.

3D Flyover Video of PennEast Pipeline Route in vicinity of the Route Start (MP 6 to MP 0)

This is part 14 of the 3D flyover video series of the PennEast routes. In this installment, we look at the route where it starts in Luzerne County, PA, at mile posts 6 to 0.

As always, the 400′ survey corridor is in smokey gray, the pipeline 50′ permanent easement line is in red, and the light blue areas are temporary construction zones. There is also a 100′ construction right of way not shown here.

 I have also begun organizing these videos, they are all available under the “3D Flyover Videos” top navigation area.
I estimate there is about half a mile of co-location along this section of the route, effectively the interconnects at the the very start.  The rest is routed all through rugged hilly terrain and old-growth forests.
At 1:32 it starts to reach the top of a ridge, and then starts a long, steep descent down the hill side.
We need to wake up PA officials and show them the lie of “co-location” in their towns and counties.

3D Flyover of PennEast Pipeline Route in vicinity of Kidder, PA (MP 21 to MP 26)

This is part of the 3D flyover video series of the PennEast routes. In this installment, we look at the route in the Kidder, PA vicinity, specifically around mile marker 21 to 26.

As always, the 400′ survey corridor is in smokey gray, the pipeline 50′ permanent easement line is in red, and the light blue areas are temporary construction zones. There is also a 100′ construction right of way not shown here.

The video starts at route 940, with the remainder of this portion all going through forested lands.  We see another example of PennEast-style “co-location” here – the pipeline route parallel with, but not within, another right of way.  So PennEast is more than doubling the existing cut.

At 1:27 we climb up a small hill, and soon plunge down into the second crossing of the Lehigh River.  This one does not show as an HDD or bore under, but instead a straight trenching through the river.    I need to confirm this against the construction plans.