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Right: How the existing cavern in Gibbstown looked in 1967 when it was used by its previous owner, DuPont, to store ammonia. If two new caverns are approved by state officials, the three will form the largest underground fuel-storage complex in New Jersey. Left: Workers descending to the cavern in 1967 Credit: (NJDEP)
By Jon Hurdle, Inside Climate News
A controversial plan to build two giant caverns to store propane and butane beneath the community of Gibbstown on the Delaware River is going through its final public scrutiny. And it is hearing plenty from those hoping to stop it.
The state Department of Environmental Protection issued a draft permit for the Gloucester County project in April, and is now seeking public comment until June 16 before issuing a final decision on what would be New Jersey’s biggest complex of caverns for storing petroleum products.
But since first proposed three years ago, the project has faced opposition from environmental groups that say it would expose local people to explosive and toxic materials and should never be built in a densely populated area. They have said it would also only worsen the climate crisis by stimulating the production of fossil fuels.
“This is the wrong project in the wrong place at the wrong time,” said Tracy Carluccio, deputy director of Delaware Riverkeeper Network, at a public hearing held by the DEP in mid-May.
The new caverns would hold 26.8 million gallons of liquefied petroleum gases (LPG), about five times as much as an existing cavern on the site that was used by its former owner, the chemical giant DuPont, to store ammonia. That cavern is now used by the developer, Delaware River Partners, to store butane. In future, the complex could be even larger if the company goes ahead with possible plans to build another two caverns.
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