A federal judge in New Jersey ruled a natural gas pipeline company can go ahead with taking property and compensating landowners as part of an estimated $1.1 billion project.
U.S. District Judge Brian Martinotti said Friday that PennEast Pipeline Co. LLC can begin taking immediate possession of properties in New Jersey along the roughly 120-mile proposed pipeline from northeastern Pennsylvania through Northampton County and across the Delaware River into Hunterdon and Mercer counties in New Jersey.
The 50-page ruling says PennEast offered $3,000 for access to parts of land where the pipeline would travel.
The ruling is a blow to towns, landowners, the state and environmental groups, who sought to stop PennEast's use of eminent domain.
New Jersey landowners would be paid under the ruling.
PennEast's board of managers chairman, Tony Cox, said Friday that as a result of ongoing talks with stakeholders like landowners and state officials, planners aligned nearly half of the New Jersey route with overhead power lines to reduce the pipeline's impact.
“The PennEast Pipeline Company is pleased with today’s ruling allowing the project to take another step forward in delivering low-cost, reliable energy that strengthens New Jersey’s economy and creates thousands of jobs,” Cox said in a statement on the ruling. “Once in operation, PennEast will provide the low-cost energy for ratepayers to ultimately support future investments in higher cost wind and solar.
"Our immediate next steps are to perform routine land, environmental and other ground-level surveys. These surveys will update and confirm data for certain federal and state permitting guidelines.”
The New Jersey Attorney General's Office on Friday responded to a request for comment from NJ Advance Media by saying: "The decision is under review. We have no other comment at this time."
Homeowners opposed to the pipeline issued a statement saying they are infuriated by the ruling and remain committed to stopping the project.
“Although disappointed, we are even more steadfast in our resolve to stop this project by proving that this it is not needed, has little positive impact on employment, is unconstitutional and is very harmful to our homes, communities and our environment,” stated Vincent DiBianca, a Delaware Township homeowner and owner of a small farm and business on the pipeline’s proposed path.
The New Jersey Sierra Club said it also remained committed to blocking the pipeline designed to carry natural gas from hydraulic fracturing wells in Pennsylvania's Marcellus Shale region for domestic regional use.
“PennEast moves forward and we will fight back and stop this," the club’s director, Jeff Tittel, said in a statement. “We’ve been fighting PennEast for over four years and they thought it would be long built by now. We want to thank the landowners who denied them access and those who took them to court to fight it.”
The New Jersey Conservation Foundation also blasted Friday’s ruling.
“PennEast is trying to trample on our rights by taking land from private homeowners, and lands set aside with taxpayer dollars for our children and grandchildren," Tom Gilbert, campaign director for the foundation, said in a statement. “This will only strengthen the public’s opposition and resolve to ensure that this self-serving project is rejected and they never get the chance to destroy New Jersey’s environment.”
PennEast won a similar ruling last week on eminent domain in Pennsylvania. That ruling only allows the consortium of energy companies to survey the land it needs. Pennsylvania eminent domain law requires a separate process for the condemnation of land and compensation of landowners, PennEast says.
Permits for the project are pending in both states after the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission granted conditional approval earlier this year, deeming the project to be in the public need and benefit.
The company has said it plans to move forward with construction in mid-2019, expected to take about seven months before the pipeline goes online.
NJ Advance Media reporter Michael Sol Warren and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @KurtBresswein and Facebook. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.