In Your Opinion: Save The Marine Life From The Threats of NESE’s Proposed Pipeline Under Raritan Bay

Submitted by the Franklin Township Task Force on CS206 & NESE.

The fishing and recreation industry by Raritan Bay, as well as the cleaned-up waters and marine life in the bay, would be in danger if the Williams/Transco NESE pipeline is constructed from Sayreville to an offshore point south of Rockaway, NY.

Risks of adding a pipeline under Raritan Bay during 9 months of 24/7 construction:

• Toxins from years of industrial dumping have become buried below the seabed of the Raritan Bay.  Some are copper, lead, zinc, and mercury.  The NESE Project would unearth them and let them land on the surface of the seabed for ground-feeding fish to ingest.
• Construction through an area of the Raritan Bay Slag Superfund Site could release more lead and other toxins that could threaten beachgoers as well as marinelife.
• Construction noise would harm threatened & endangered species like the right whale and Atlantic sturgeon.
• Fishermen, recreational boaters, and whale-watching businesses would be negatively impacted since construction of the Raritan Bay Loop will go through seven separate recreational fishing grounds and hinder travel of boaters, including whale-watching vessels.
• Whales and seals have returned to this area, and the noise and toxins could harm them.
• The endangered and smallest sea turtle, Kemp’s ridley sea turtle, made its way through the waters where the pipeline is proposed to nest on Rockaway in July 2018, and there’s no plan to protect this species in the plans of Williams/Transco.

The final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for the Northeast Supply Enhancement (NESE) Project was published by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on January 25, 2019, and it’s predictable that Williams/Transco will be given FERC’s Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity anytime between the end of February and late April 2019.