Williams’ gas tanks in the Meadowlands as seen from the Hackensack River in 2012.

Scott Fallon reports for the North Jersey Record:Christopher Stockton, a Williams spokesman, said Thursday that the company has obtained all the permits it needs to move forward. Construction is slated to begin early next year and be finished by late 2019 for the winter heating season.“The demand for clean, reliable and low-cost natural gas continues to climb, particularly in northeastern markets like New Jersey and New York City,” said Michael Dunn, chief operating officer of Williams.The new project, called Rivervale South to Market, would upgrade more than 10 miles of pipeline through Bergen County to allow about 10 percent more gas to be pumped to northeastern customers for heat and electricity generation. With the increased capacity, the pipeline would provide enough natural gas to meet the daily needs of about 1 million homes, Williams said.Like this? Click to receive free updatesIn the Meadowlands, the new 42-inch pipeline, called a loop, would be built on property the Oklahoma-based company owns along Metro Road near its two large gas storage tanks in Carlstadt. It would be placed parallel to two existing pipelines east of Williams’ tanks to relieve pressure on them from the increased flow of gas.In its certificate issued on Aug. 10, FERC said the project’s direct impacts to wetlands, water and other environmentally sensitive areas would be “minimal and would not contribute to adverse cumulative impacts.”Jeff Tittel, director of the New Jersey Sierra Club, criticized the approval, saying FERC did not address a plan to build a gas-fired power plant in North Bergen near the Williams facility.The proposed North Bergen Liberty Generating plant, which is still being reviewed by state environmental regulators, would need to hook into Williams’ Transco pipeline and use the gas as fuel to generate 1,200 megawatts of electricity that would be sent via underground cable to New York. A decades-long effort to rehabilitate the Meadowlands has succeeded in making the more than 5,000 acres of wetlands cleaner, attracting fish and birds back to what was once a wasteland but remains a key stop on the Atlantic bird migration route. Williams’s gas tank in the Meadowlands. (Photo: File photo)Bill Sheehan, director of Hackensack Riverkeeper, said the pipeline proposal is a step back for the region. “FERC isn’t on the ground here,” he said. “They don’t see what we see, and so the deck is stacked against us.”Read the full storyLike this? Click to receive free updates