Codey, Morris mayors talk Pilgrim Pipeline

The New Jersey opposition to the proposed Pilgrim Pipeline converged Wednesday at Madison High School, where five Morris County mayors, three legislators and more than 300 people attended a community meeting to learn more about the controversial project.

Madison Mayor Robert Conley welcomed the assembly, which was attended by Sen. Richard Codey — an outspoken critic of pipeline — and his fellow 27th District legislators, Assemblywoman Mila Jasey and Assemblyman John McKeon. Other mayors in attendance included Bruce Harris of Chatham, Mark Taylor of Florham Park, Joseph Pannullo of East Hanover and Scott Gallopo of Montville.

With the 490-seat school auditorium about three-quarters full, Codey, the former governor and current member of the Senate Environment and Energy committee, said he has met with representatives of the company "But I told them that if they think they can talk me into it, that's a longshot."

The 178-mile pipeline would transport up to 200,000 gallons of Bakken crude oil from a regional hub in Albany, N.Y., to a refinery in Linden, with a second line to carry refined products back in the other direction. The pipeline would run through many towns in northern New Jersey and sensitive water supplies in the Highlands region.

Last week, Linden became the 31st New Jersey municipality to pass a resolution opposing the project.

Pilgrim Pipeline Holdings LLC says the line would provide the northeast with a more stable supply of essential refined petroleum products and would be a safer method of delivery than the estimated 1,200 crude oil barges currently navigating the Hudson River every year.

"We believe our project presents an exciting opportunity to create jobs in New Jersey, protect the environment and provide a more efficient and safe means of transportation for critical fuels in the Hudson Valley," said company spokesperson Paul Nathanson.

The 90-minute program opened with a PowerPoint presentation by Brendan Keating of the Chatham Citizens Opposing the Oil Pipeline. Keating showed statistics he said conflicted with those coming from the company proposing the nearly $1 billion project, including safety and potential job creation.

Referring to the existing utility right of way that runs through much of Morris County, Keating questioned the wisdom of constructing a new method of transport when "the current infrastructure is completely scalable."

"The Pilgrim Pipeline invites a new risk that was not there before," he said.

Codey explained that current resolutions opposing the pipeline in the Senate and Assembly only express the sense of the legislature and have "no legal weight to effectuate anything other than that."

He has higher hopes for a bill he introduced on Feb. 9 that would restrict use of eminent domain — historically possessed by private pipeline companies in New Jersey — to those demonstrating their pipeline is in the public interest, and also agree to BPU regulations.

Until then, he said, he hopes PSE&G continues to hold back support of the pipeline.

"The fact that PSE&G has not said anything about letting them go through their grid lines I think is good," he said. "Hopefully they turn them down and we don't have to meet again."

Thursday, PSE&G spokesperson Karen Johnson said "Pilgrim Pipeline Holdings Inc. has asked PSE&G to consider the use of the utility's existing right of way for their proposed oil pipeline. Last fall, we told Pilgrim that it was not in the best interests of the utility or its customers to allow access to the right of way from Montville to Woodbridge. This right of way already contains transmission, distribution and gas facilities. At the time, we said that building another pipeline in the same right of way could interfere with these existing facilities, as well as future potential uses of this property for the provision of safe and reliable electric and gas service."

Johnson said Pilgrim later asked PSE&G to reconsider, "But we plan to wait for the outcome of those proceedings to determine if there is a need to review the matter further."

Nathanson responded Thursday by saying "We continue to be focused on doing the environmental and other survey work needed so that we can submit our applications. As demonstrated by recent media coverage of ice-bound barges stuck in the Hudson while carrying critical fuels, it's high time to upgrade the method for transporting gasoline, home heating oil and other fuels coming through the region."

Staff Writer William Westhoven: 973-428-6627; wwesthoven@dailyrecord.com.