The proposed NESE Pipeline is a direct threat to the health of vulnerable communities in Central New Jersey. It proposes to build a pipeline that transmits natural gas—long demonstrated to have a harmful impact on human health—to out-of-state consumers who don’t care about New Jersey and don’t care about the people who live here.
The need to stop this pipeline is more urgent than ever now that New York has approved a Water Quality Certification and an Article 15 Excavation & Fill Permit for the NESE project and New Jersey has approved water quality permits.
While thousands of families across our state will be impacted by this unnecessary fossil fuel project, the NESE pipeline will harm Black and Brown communities the most. Like most projects that do the greatest damage to communities of color — factories, highways, waste incinerators — developers of the NESE pipeline have ignored the impacts it will have.
Historic neglect of underserved communities in fossil fuel project development has led to clear outcomes, especially in the state of New Jersey. In Newark, a Black-majority city dominated by industrial and airport-related pollution, 1 in 4 kids are diagnosed with asthma. In Paterson, 1 in 5 third graders has been diagnosed with asthma from higher pollutant levels measured in the air.
The NESE pipeline is another foreboding case presenting a dangerous possibility for communities like Franklin, New Jersey. The project is projected to carry almost 400 million cubic feet of dirty, climate-altering natural gas every day through New Jersey to the state of New York.
It will dramatically expand fossil fuel capacity in New Jersey by forcing even more fossil fuels through existing pipelines. This will be done, in part, through the construction of a new compressor station. Located near a quarry that regularly uses explosives, this gas-powered compressor station will have 32,000 horsepower, which could power about 160 cars.
In 2020, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection deemed the project unnecessary and threatening to water quality in New Jersey. The pipeline would disrupt polluted sediments that are currently sitting at the bottom of the Hudson River. Once shaken up by construction, these sediments could contaminate our drinking water and endanger sensitive marine habitats.
Despite these health risks, developer Williams Transco is attempting to leverage its close ties to the Trump administration to reopen its project proposals to rush through approvals for its development. These close ties are demonstrated by financial contributions made to President Trump’s campaign.
The current proposal is almost identical to the previous proposals that were rejected by the New Jersey DEP. The reason for the repeat application: the developer believes that an anti-environment federal administration will approve regulatory rollbacks that make the approval process easier.
The people of New Jersey do not want or need this project, which would enrich oil and gas companies while driving energy prices higher for working families, including Black and brown communities in Franklin, Long Branch, and Perth Amboy who live in the project footprint.
The carbon pollution created by the project, should it be installed, would also worsen environmental conditions for New Jersey children and families, driving up health care costs for people who need treatment for the health problems and medical conditions the pollution is likely to create. Conditions such as asthma and heart disease are proven to be much more likely for people who live in communities where the air is impacted by pollution.
Communities across Central Jersey do not want or need this harmful project.
At a time when Donald Trump’s administration in Washington is pursuing an extreme, pro-fossil fuel agenda, we need New Jersey’s elected leaders, beginning with Governor Murphy, to step up and fight this project to protect the health and safety of Black and brown communities.
Our kids are dependent on our governor and our state DEP to do the right thing and shut it down.
Milena Bimpong is the Policy and Environmental Justice Associate at New Jersey LCV. The organization advocates for policies and passes laws to protect clean air, safeguard clean water, and ensure equitable access to preserved open spaces and parks.