NJ DEP permit response criticised for PennEast pipeline

“This is a significant setback for PennEast. However, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJ DEP) should have rejected PennEast's application for permits outright. It fails to meet the basic procedural requirements under the law that allow NJ DEP to review it – especially their lack of legal rights to most of the properties in question,” said Tom Gilbert, Campaign Director, and NJ Conservation Foundation and ReThink Energy NJ.

“NJ DEP has repeatedly stated it won't consider an application without all surveys completed and the required missing data and analyses. NJ DEP's response [on 26 April] fell short of listing all the information necessary for NJ DEP to deem an application administratively complete, like an alternatives analysis and species surveys.”

Gilbert’s statement comes in response to a letter from NJ DEP regarding PennEast’s recent application for two key permits for its pipeline project: a Freshwater Wetlands Individual Permit and a Water Quality Certificate.