Trenton – In a letter to Dept. of Environmental Protection Commissioner Shawn LaTourette, 20 of the state’s leading environmental advocacy groups demanded that at least three in-person public hearings in northeastern New Jersey be held on the highly controversial Northeast Supply Enhancement (NESE) fracked gas pipeline proposal. The demand was issued after a virtual “fact-finding” public hearing held on Sept. 10 was terminated before dozens or even hundreds of concerned members of the public were denied the opportunity  to offer comment.

The letter was facilitated by the advocacy organization Food & Water Watch and signed by groups including NJ League of Conservation Voters, NJ Sierra Club and Clean Ocean Action. 

The letter states, in part: At every turn, the DEP has disrespected and silenced the public, which overwhelmingly opposes the [NESE] project… Rather than scheduling in-person hearings in the affected communities, many of which are overburdened environmental justice communities, DEP instead attempted to cram all of the opposition into a single meeting held via Microsoft Teams, an unpopular and confusing technology platform that helped enable the DEP to silence and avoid testimony from dozens, if not hundreds, of New Jersey residents who did everything they were asked to do in order to speak, but were still wrongly denied that right.

The Williams/Transco NESE project would transport fracked gas under Raritan Bay and through New York Harbor, while also adding a massive compressor station in Franklin Township. Onshore pipeline sections would cut through Hunterdon, Somerset, and Middlesex counties before reaching the bay — putting communities across New Jersey directly in the pipeline’s path. Regulators in both New Jersey and New York have rejected the project multiple times, citing water quality and health concerns.