April 25, 2016
Delaware Township Committee
570 Rosemont-Ringoes Road
PO Box 500
Sergeantsville, NJ 08557
Re: Maintenance of Dedicated Township Funds for Pipeline Opposition
Dear Mayor Lockwood and Delaware Township Committee Members:
Thank you for your strong support for Delaware Township citizens and our community in our collective efforts to oppose the PennEast Pipeline Project.
DTCAP commends the Township Committee for its actions taken to date in opposition to this destructive project includingthe passage of multiple Township Resolutions,detailed Comments filed with FERC expressing the facts about our Township and our collective opposition, direct meetings with the NJ Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP concerning the negative environmental impacts of the proposed project and the set aside of dedicated funds within our Township Budget for pipeline opposition efforts including the hiring of experts.
With the recent FERC announcement of a revised schedule for environmental review of this project, DTCAP anticipates the issuance of a draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) from FERC this summer.
The draft EIS will require a detailed response on core environmental issues which will finally involve the use of the expert testimony the Committee has long budgeted for. This letter is to urge the Committee to retain the dedicated $15,000 in the Township Budget for this purpose.
As we know from our past dealings with PennEast, their information and filings consistently contain major factual inaccuracies, misrepresentations and many would say – outright deception. All of the citizens of Delaware Township, not only the directly impacted homeowners, cannot afford to allow this to be the case with the EIS which will define the actual project if it is ultimately approved.
As a result, now is a critical time to maintain the dedicated funds to pipeline opposition within the Township budget. Now is the time Delaware will need to hire the most relevant experts to combat the anticipated inaccuracies in the EIS concerning such critical issues as our water supply, blasting and the construction process, public safety and environmental impacts upon our community.
To date, we have leveraged the resources of the CAP groups across communities, environmental organizations such as the NJ Conservation Foundation and other environmental organizations to avoid duplication of efforts in the areas of expert testimony and preserve Township funds, but, in the context of the EIS, Delaware Township must now provide expert testimony on the specific environmental impacts on our community. Of course we will continue to work with our neighbors and the environmental community to optimize the use of existing experts and to identify recommended areas for the Township to focus its use of expert testimony.
With all of this in mind, DTCAP urges the Township Committee to retain its current budgetary allocation of $15,000 for our community’s Penn East Pipeline opposition efforts -including the hiring of relevant expert(s) to respond to the draft EIS this summer. We thank you for all of your past and future efforts to safeguard our community from this destructive project.
Sincerely,
DTCAP Board of Directors