Southern Reliability Link Pipeline

This article is part of the Global Fossil Infrastructure Tracker, a project of Global Energy Monitor.

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Southern Reliability Link Pipeline, also called the Pinelands Pipeline, is an operating natural gas pipeline in New Jersey.

Location

The pipeline will run from Ocean County through Burlington County and Monmouth County, New Jersey.

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Project Details

• Owner: New Jersey Resources
• Proposed capacity: 280 million cubic feet per day
• Length: 48.3 kilometers / 30 miles
• Diameter: 30 inches
• Status: Construction
• Start Year: 2021
• Cost: 130 million USD

Background

The pipeline project is awaiting approval from the New Jersey Pinelands Commission. The expected cost is $130 million. The 30-mile project will begin in Chesterfield and continue through North Hanover, Upper Freehold, Plumsted and then into the existing system of New Jersey Natural Gas (NJNG).

As of January 2019, the construction of the pipeline had begun.

New Jersey environmental officials are expected to either approve or disapprove several permits required for the proposed pipeline, the results of which will have significant impact on the viability of the pipeline.

In June 2020, drilling work was halted after an accident led to drilling mud leaking into a nearby stream and damaging a house in Monmouth County. The house had to be evacuated. The incident occurred in Upper Freehold Township, where the crew was doing horizontal drilling.

Opposition

Protestors continue to challenge the pipeline on the ground, including activists from the New Jersey Sierra Club, Food & Water Watch, Clean Water Action, Environment New Jersey and other concerned residents. In May of 2019, many of these organizations and individual activists gathered on Route 70 in Manchester to protest against the pipeline.

Despite a pending court challenge brought by the Pinelands Preservation Alliance, the New Jersey Sierra Club, and local townships, New Jersey Natural Gas decided to begin construction on the project in parts of Ocean County, including through parts of the 1-million-acre Pinelands National Preserve.

Those who oppose the pipeline have asked the Burlington County Board of Freeholders to stop the project by denying the pipeline a permit to build along its county roads.

As of June 2020, a lawsuit to overturn the pipeline's approvals by the Board of Public Utilities and Pinelands Commission was pending in the Appellate Division of State Superior Court after being filed jointly by the New Jersey Sierra Club, the Pinelands Preservation Alliance and the Burlington County townships of Bordentown and Chesterfield.

In July 2020, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) suspended the pipeline's Freshwater Wetlands permit after a series of construction accidents led to the condemnation of a home along the pipeline route. However, in November 2020 the DEP decided to reinstate the Freshwater Wetlands permit, allowing developers to resume pipeline construction. The Pinelands Preservation Alliance (PPA) and the New Jersey Sierra Club condemned the decision. In April 2021 a state Appellate Court reinstated the pipeline's permit. The court agreed with a finding by the Pinelands Commission that the pipeline poses no threat to the sickle-leaved golden aster, a rare plant, if construction avoided horizontal directional drilling.

The construction of the project was completed in August 2021

Environmental Impact

Environmental groups and other opponents say the project would stir up tons of highly polluted sediment and reverse decades of difficult environmental improvements in Raritan Bay, which has been struggling with pollution.