Home » NJDEP Denies PennEast Application

NJDEP Denies PennEast Application

by Mary Galioto

The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) has rejected PennEast Pipeline’s application for water permits for a second time. 

In a letter sent yesterday to the PennEast Pipeline Company, NJDEP denied the application as incomplete application. Specially, the letter provides that PennEast submitted a freshwater wetlands individual permit application, in April of 2017, to NJDEP. In June 2017, NJDEP administratively closed PennEast’s deficient application.

Upon review of the application, the Department determined that significant and necessary information to determine compliance with the freshwater wetlands rules was missing from the application… On June 28, 2017, the NJDEP determined to administratively close the Application because adequate information had still not been submitted to complete the proposed application. To date, PennEast has not submitted any further documentation or a complete Application.

Accordingly, the NJDEP hereby denies without prejudice the Application… PennEast may resubmit a new complete application when it has all of the required information as identified in the NJDEP’s letter dated April 26, 2017…

“This is a victory against the pipeline because they have to start all over again and apply for new permits,” said Jeff Tittel, director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “This could be tough for them to do this because they do not have information because 65 percent of the route in New Jersey because people have denied them access.”

“We’re very pleased that NJDEP has denied PennEast’s illegal application,” said Tom Gilbert, campaign director for the New Jersey Conservation Foundation. “The conditional Certificate that FERC recently issued for PennEast clearly states that the pipeline can’t proceed without water permits from NJDEP. PennEast is trying to claim that FERC’s Certificate means the project is a done deal, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. The project cannot go forward without DEP’s environmental review, which has not yet started. 

“PennEast wants to put a polluting, dangerous pipeline across dozens of pure streams and rivers that are the source of our drinking water. If PennEast reapplies to NJDEP, we are confident that their damaging pipeline won’t be able to meet the strict standards that project our water and natural resources.”

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