The Franklin Reporter & Advocate Eight Villages, One Community
Nearly 100 people – including Franklin residents – gave state environmental officials an earful November 13 during a public hearing on a controversial natural gas pipeline project.
The project, Williams-Tranco’s Northeast Supply Enhancement Project, will run from Pennsylvania, through New Jersey and eventually into New York.
The project includes a 32,000-horsepower, natural gas-powered twin-turbine compressor station on a 52-acre tract in the village of Little Rocky Hill, near Route 518.
Williams says the compressor station is needed to move the natural gas along on its journey.
Activists thought they had the project beat in 2024 when Transco withdrew its application from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission after environmental officials in New York and New Jersey denied needed permits.
But in May, buoyed by two Executive Orders issued by Pres. Donald Trump it believed favored natural gas infrastructure, and a reported deal between Trump and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, Williams asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Agency to reinstate the agency’s Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity for the project.
New York and New Jersey earlier this month approved water permit applications for the overall project. Pending is an air pollution permit application for the compressor station being considered by the state Department of Environmental Protection.
The DEP held a virtual public hearing on November 13 which attracted nearly 100 participants, many of whom spoke, and all of whom were in opposition to the permits.
The hearing got off to an ominous start when its host, the DEP’s manager of the Bureau of Stationary Sources, Danny Wong, told the participants that the department “is proposing to approve this permit. The basis for the approval is that the facility complies with all applicable state and federal air pollution control laws and rules.”
But, he said, “if anyone demonstrates to the department that the facility would not comply with any of the applicable air pollution control laws and rules, the department proposed decision is to approve this permit or the requirements imposed in the draft permit may be changed.”
No one spoke in favor of the project.
The first person to speak was Township Council member Ed Potosnak, who is also the executive Director of the New Jersey League of Conservation Voters.
Potosnak started by claiming that “the”politics is at play” with the revival of the project.
“Williams Transco donated tens of thousands of dollars to elect Donald Trump for president,” he said. “And as payback, the Trump administration granted fast-track approval of the expensive unneeded project by FERC to undertake this fake energy emergency. And they’re trying to force this expensive project down ratepayers’ throats.”
But, Potosnak said, the compressor will “add massive air pollution to my community, and risks of explosion.”
“You have a responsibility to safeguard our community by using your full authority to protect our communities from the environmental health and safety impacts of the unneeded, costly fossil fuel infrastructure,” he said. “The extensive methane pipeline expansion and the compressor stations proposed by Williams Transco continue to be without public benefit.”
Controls to monitor air pollution emitted by the station are “without any way to check to see if they’re effective controls once they’re in operation, and the DEP would be failing to protect residents from that harmful air pollution,” he said.
“The project goes against all of our efforts to move towards a 21st Century renewable energy economy, a future where we can use the cheapest source of electricity, and that is clean energy, especially solar and onshore wind,” Potosnak said. “So approving this permit would keep expensive natural gas infrastructure in operation for generations for children and grandchildren, and make the region dependent on dirty fossil fuels, damage our public health, exacerbate climate change, and put the homes and businesses in my community in danger, and delay our transition to a clean renewable energy future.”
Mayor Phil Kramer said that the proposed compressor station “will, without a doubt, have an effect on air quality.”
“At the last hearing I attempted to put this 32,000-horsepower compressor station in context by comparing it to other fossil fuel burners, similar power and exhaust volume,” he said.
“As an engineer, the examples I gave were a B-52 continuously on takeoff power, 16,000 natural gas powered homes, 64 Corvettes at full-throttle, and 3,200 cars traveling at 60 miles per hour,” he said. “As a neurologist, I discussed that neurologic diseases made worse caused by the pollution.”
“A few years ago, I arranged for 20 air quality monitors to be placed around town, a recurring observation I’ve made is that sensors near I-287 almost always register worse air quality than those farther away,” he said. “So the equivalent of 3,200 cars will, without a doubt, have a negative effect on nearby air quality and health.”
“Several months ago, I met with representative of Williams Transco, I asked if the compressor could be electrically powered instead of being powered by methane,” Kramer said. “Their answer was it would put a burden on their customers. In other words, they wouldn’t make as much money.”
“During this meeting, I’m sure you will hear that this project is not needed and that there is no benefit to the nearby residents,” Kramer said. “So what is being proposed is an unneeded polluting project that will harm residents without any benefit to those residents, all for the sake of profits for a $74 billion company. Is that what you really want to do?”
“Please deny the permit, it is without merit to the general public,” he said.
Township Councilwoman Shepa Uddin (D-Ward 2) said she agreed with everything Kramer said.
“This is not about profits, this is profit over people’s health and safety,” she said. “These are unneeded pollution factors.”
Uddin said there were also concerns about fire safety “and the costs involved in that.”
“This is not something that we need, and the effect that it’s going to have on us humans is much more at cost here,” she said.
Linda Powell, a longtime opponent of the project, said that the effect of “blowdowns” from the compressor were not being taken into account.
Blowdowns are the controlled release of pressurized gas from a pipeline when it is being taken offline for maintenance or system testing.
“These blowdowns are a major source of pollution from these gas power compressor stations,” she said. “The emissions from the blowdowns need to be accounted for and considered in this application, which they are not. Our federal agencies, which were meant to protect our rights, health, safety, and environment, have been ripped apart by our current federal administration.”
“Greed and lies are destroying our freedoms and our environment,” Powell said. “Our hopes were with the state of New Jersey, with a reputation as an environmental leader in this country, protecting both its residents and environment, especially with the new environmental justice laws. We were extremely upset when both New York and New Jersey approved the water quality permits after they had been previously denied, with good reason, the protection of our water.”
“Nothing has changed with this project, but the climate crisis has worsened with the hottest summers on record, more frequent and intense storms, and more flooding,” Powell said. “We need you to stand up to those who are doing what they can to destroy this country. We need you to stand up to the bullying by our current president. We need you to protect us by protecting our environment. We need you to believe in facts and to follow the science. We need you to care.”
Township resident Robert Scardapane said the two 50-foot smokestacks on the compressor station “will be constantly emitting toxins. The resulting plume will release toxins all day on 5,000 residents who live within a mile and a half radius” from the station.
“The yearly amount of toxin toxic chemicals emitted under normal operation exceeds the New Jersey toxic air pollutants thresholds,” he said. “The draft air permit application states that during normal operation, seven hazardous air pollutants will be emitted in quantity several times more than NJ standards, but during the year there will be 150 startups and shutdowns and during each startup and shutdown the toxins released will be a shocking six to 10 times higher, lasting 15 minutes each event. Toxins such as benzene affect the skin, eyes, lungs and central nervous systems.”
“Many families live within 500 to 1,500 feet from the proposed station posing an unacceptable health risk,” he said.
“Over 16,000 pounds of carbon monoxide and 42,000 pounds of nitrogen oxide will be released yearly along with large quantities of methane during blowdowns,” he said. “These greenhouse gases not only affect climate change but have real health consequences for the respiratory system in particular. The draft air permit lacks details on blowdowns which are a worst-case scenario. Crucial questions such as the frequency of blowdowns, level of emissions during a blowdown and warnings to the community must be addressed.”
Township resident Elizabeth Roedell noted that the Transco application indicates that “150 shutdowns and startups will occur every year with durations of 15 minutes each.”
“That’s approximately three days with dangerous levels of pollutants released into the air,” she said. “Blowdowns are even more troublesome as they are the largest single emission at a compressor station with gas flumes extending up 100 feet or more into the air from the forceful rush of the natural gas through the blowdown valve. Yet Williams Transco did not include blowdown admissions in the draft permit to evaluate the impact to public health on the surrounding communities.”
“The toxic emissions from the shutdowns and startups and the blowdowns will not only affect my health but also the quality of my life and the people in my community,” she said. “It is totally irresponsible for Williams Transco to build a compressor station that burns natural gas continuously all day in a densely populated residential area with adult communities, low-income housing, and in close proximity to schools and houses of worship.”
Arnold Schmidt, a member of the Township Environmental Commission, said he was opposed to the “unneeded air polluting compressor station that is only now being installed due to shameful pay-to-play. It’ll provide no benefits to our community but will severely impact the health of our residents.”
“DEP’s primary responsibilities are to protect the public and environmental health,” he said. “To approve any air permits for this project go against the DEP’s mission statement. So it’s time to just say no.”
A Griggstown resident whose screen name was Susan wondered if the DEP took into account that many residences near the proposed compressor site run on well water.
“We don’t have access to city water but we rely on the individual wells which are going to be affected by the compressor’s release of benzene, etc.,” she said. “I don’t know if people realize that.”
“Now who’s going to be monitoring our well water, and who will be remedying our issues with our well water, our drinking water, once they’re found to be polluted?” she said. “I don’t see any discussion of that.”
She said she was also diagnosed with lung cancer which has been attributed to “exposure to pollutants.”
“I would not want anyone anyone to go through what I have gone through and I’m still going through. That includes DEP people and Governor Murphy.
“If the project is approved how many others are going to be affected by respiratory issues and cancer from the toxic pollution of the compressor?” she said “I was part of the original group that successfully fought the pipeline when it was proposed several years ago. There’s no change in Williams Transco’s proposal, and at that time (Gov. Phil) Murphy and DEP denied the project.”
“Please for the benefit of New Jersey residents, Governor Murphy and DEP, please continue the positive environmental legacy you already have and deny this unneeded and unwanted toxic project,” she said.
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