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| Nancy Rokos photo for the Burlington County Times |
David Levinsky reports for the Burlington County Times:
Members of the New Jersey Pinelands Commission might vote next month on whether to permit a high-pressure gas pipeline to cross through a portion of the protected Pinelands on Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst.
The key issue in their deliberations will likely be whether New Jersey Natural Gas’ proposed Southern Reliability Link pipeline through northern Burlington, Monmouth and Ocean counties will benefit the joint base or merely cross through the installation to deliver gas to its service territory.
The question is central to the pipeline’s approval, because utility infrastructure is conditionally permitted to run through the million-acre Pinelands, provided the line is associated with the military installation or its functions.
New Jersey Natural Gas insists that the pipeline is needed to improve the resiliency of its service, and that the joint base will ultimately benefit because a portion of it is within the company’s Ocean County territory.
Pipeline opponents, which include environmental groups and residents who live near the route, counter that the resiliency can be achieved by other means, and that there’s no evidence the gas delivered from the line will be used by the military.
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