NJ Pipeline Approval for $1 Billion Project Overturned

A federal appeals court has vacated New Jersey's water-quality certification for the $1 billion Northeast Supply Enhancement pipeline, citing unresolved monitoring requirements and inadequate explanations of dredging in Raritan Bay.

The U.S. Court of Appeals in Philadelphia sent the Clean Water Act Section 401 certification back to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection for further proceedings on September 8, less than three weeks after a separate federal appeals court upheld New York's water-quality certification for the same project.

The Northeast Supply Enhancement pipeline would add 400,000 dekatherms per day of pipeline capacity into a Northeast gas market supplied by multiple regions, storage, local production, and LNG. Williams' subsidiary Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Co.'s system would increase by roughly 37 miles of line capacity and related facilities.

New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection required monitoring for turbidity but not the toxic contaminants themselves. The court said the agency had not explained why monitoring water cloudiness would assure compliance with standards governing DDE, PCBs, mercury, and other contaminants.