Gas line coming? Jersey City, Bayonne wooed for pipeline

[MCA™]

Finally, a route.


Few turn out in Jersey City to hear safety assurances on extending natural gas pipeline through city
Thursday, March 11, 2010
By MELISSA HAYES
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

Braced for a large crowd, more than a dozen Spectra Energy representatives in matching blue shirts waited to talk residents through an array of maps inside a Jersey City school Tuesday night. The representatives almost outnumbered the attendees. The company wants to extend its existing natural gas pipeline in Linden and Staten Island through Bayonne and Jersey City to Manhattan.

The meeting, held at School 9, was the second in Jersey City and two more are planned for Bayonne next week.

Spectra's Project Manager Ed Gonzalez said the route could change, but as proposed, it would extend from Staten Island under the Kill Van Kull through Bayonne along First Street, up Lexington Avenue to Second Street and continuing to the Fifth Street Connector to Route 440, in some places passing through industrial parks alongside the roadway, before reaching Jersey City.

The pipeline would continue along 440 in Jersey City to the New Jersey Turnpike and Route 78. It would follow Caven Point Road then pick up 78 again. The pipeline would cut into Jersey City around 18th Street and go out Long Slip behind the A&P and Target in Newport to cross the Hudson River to Manhattan.

Jersey City Ward A Councilman Michael Sottolano, whose ward would be impacted by the proposed route, said he had expected a bigger turnout.

Jersey City resident Denise Katzman, who attended the meeting, said: "I'm very concerned about them wanting to plop this stuff in dense areas and saying verbally they care about our health, they care about our environment, but can we get that in writing, can we get them to post multimillion-dollar bonds?"

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission doesn't require public hearings until the company submits an application. Spectra plans to do that in June.

Gonzalez said the company has about 40 employees staying in Jersey City and that in 2012 when work begins it would create 100 jobs. He said 500 jobs would be created in 2013 when construction is underway.

Bayonne and Jersey City stand to make millions annually in tax revenue.

But some Jersey City Council members, Mayor Jerramiah T. Healy, Sen. Frank Lautenberg and the LeFrak Organization, Newport's major developer, say they have serious concerns about safety.

Gonzalez said for residents worried about safety, the entire pipe is X-rayed before it is filled with gas to ensure all the welds are secure. In addition, every seven years the company runs equipment through the entire pipeline to check for weak spots or damage.

[MCA™]

Texas company courts property owners to construct natural gas pipeline in Jersey City, Bayonne
By The Jersey Journal
March 07, 2010, 2:02PM

A Texas energy company interested in running a natural gas pipeline through Bayonne and Jersey City is quietly courting landowners in the two cities, Journal staff writers Charles Hack and Melissa Hayes report in tomorrow's Jersey Journal. Spectra Energy, of Houston, held a gathering for property owners at the Liberty House Restaurant in Jersey City March 3, according to the reporters.

The company will need to acquire easements in order to run the 16-mile, 30-inch pipeline from Staten Island through the cities to Manhattan. Spectra has signed a pre-agreement with Con Edison, which supplies gas and electricity to New York. The company said it would privately negotiate with landowners and would also pay "prevailing" taxes for using the land.

More meetings are planned. The company sent letters to owners of properties that could be affected by the project. The next meeting is Tuesday from 6 to 8 p.m. at School 9 on Mercer Street in Jersey City. Meetings will be held in Bayonne March 15 at the CWV Post 1612 on 23rd Street and the 17th at Trinity Church on Broadway from 6 to 8 p.m. The meetings include maps with proposed routes for the pipeline.

Jersey City officials, including Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah T. Healy and Downtown Councilman Steve Fulop, oppose the pipeline, along with the LeFrak Organization, the builders of the Newport community on the Jersey City waterfront. "Newport will oppose in the most vigorous way the use of any portion of its property for the natural gas pipeline proposed by Spectra Energy," Senior Vice President of Development Marcy Boyle told the Journal staff writers. "This pipeline does not belong in a dense urban area and will severely compromise the redevelopment of the remaining areas of Newport," she said.

But Bayonne officials and U.S. Rep. Albio Sires, D-West New York, are still on the fence about the proposal. Through a spokeswoman, Sires said he is "studying the issue closely."

Bayonne city spokesman Joseph Ryan said it would be premature to comment without additional information from Spectra. First Ward Councilman John Connolly, whose ward includes Bergen Point, which the pipeline would likely pass through, did not return phone calls. Third Ward Councilman Gary LaPelusa said he is concerned the about safety of his constituents.

Marylee Hanley, a Spectra spokeswoman, wouldn't identify the company's preferred route for the pipeline, and said company representatives will show attendees various options at the meetings. About safety concerns, Hanley, told the Journal reporters Spectra has been installing pipeline in the state for 50 years. "Spectra Energy is dedicated to the safe operation of our facilities and to the protection of our employees, public and environment," she said.

Spectra plans to file a pre-application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission by June. A formal application would follow in December with the hopes of complete the project in 2013, she said.

[CeeDub]

So according to the letter from Hizzoner (which the mods will merge to this thread) the proposed 20" extension is actually a 30" high pressure line . . .

[jcgov]

"Currently, there's no direct benefit to the residents of Jersey City," said Mayor Jerramiah T. Healy.

On January 19, 2010, Mayor Healy wrote a letter to Jersey City's Congressional delegation voicing strong opposition against the proposed Spectra Energy Corporation pipeline extension, which, if approved, would run through some of Jersey City’s most densely populated neighborhoods, affecting resident safety and property values. In addition, the proposed pipeline route would bring the natural gas conduit uncomfortably close to Tier 1 and Tier 2 Homeland Security Critical Infrastructure. For Mayor's letter and list of citizen meetings, read more.

[bdlaw]

Thanks, RIF once again for me. 

[CeeDub]

Correct - the extension (new)

calls for slightly more than eight-tenths of a mile of new pipeline from Newark

would link up 

to an existing Hess petroleum line, which would be converted to natural gas. The Hess line is 5.41 miles long and runs along the New Jersey Turnpike extension along Route 440 to New Hook Access Road, where the Bayonne Energy Center would be constructed.

The larger issue is the conversion from petro to LNG.  The real estate is already in use.  So construction/conversion (diff. diameters) will get the NIMBYs riles up, and Chicken Little will cry.  What about the 10+ miles from Bayonne to NYC?  Will it be patrolled by trained marine mammals or have depth charge/mini-sub protection?

[bdlaw]

I'm not in favor of this, and maybe I'm reading the map wrong, but seems the proposal is an extension of an *existing* pipeline and that the proposed extension isn't even in Jersey City or Bayonne but rather on the Newark side of Newark Bay?

[duke_of_earl]

I, too, am planning to run a line of explosives through Bayonne and Jersey city where an adjacent city would get all the benefits.

I want to meet with residents to discuss the least dangerous path through the city where the fewest deaths would occur if an accident occurred, but the path would have to go through downtown.

What are my chances of getting the city to agree?

</end sarcasm>

If CNG were discovered today, cities would never allow an infrastructure to be built around it for safety reasons.

duke

[MCA™]

Downtown fixture BrightMoment has started a Google Group "that will serve to provide a central focus in providing info on Spectra Energy and Williams Transco so that we might stop the two gas pipelines planned for transmission through both Bayonne and Jersey City."

http://groups.google.com/group/jerseycitygas

[MCA™]

Lautenberg says natural gas pipeline shouldn't go through Bayonne and Jersey City
By Charles Hack/The Jersey Journal
February 09, 2010, 6:00AM

In the aftermath of Sunday's deadly gas explosion at a gas-fired power plant in Connecticut, New Jersey Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg wants to halt plans to build a natural gas pipeline through Bayonne and Jersey City.

Five people were killed and 12 others were injured in an explosion at the Kleen Energy Systems gas plant Sunday in Middletown, Conn., that was under construction. Investigators are trying to identify the cause of the explosion.

"The explosion raises a red flag about the construction of a natural gas line that would run through New Jersey primarily for the benefit of New York," Lautenberg said in a statement. "This risky project should not be permitted so close to New Jersey's chemical plants, Newark Liberty Airport and the area that terrorism experts call the most dangerous two miles in America."

On Dec. 28, Spectra Energy Corp., a Houston-based energy company, announced an agreement to run a 16-mile pipeline from Texas Eastern's pipeline in Staten Island through Bayonne and Jersey City to a Con Edison plant in Manhattan. Lautenberg said he would meet with New Jersey with Spectra Energy and federal officials to raise concerns about safety.

Bayonne spokesman Joseph Ryan could not be reached yesterday, but has told The Jersey Journal the administration has been working with Spectra to come up with a way of building the pipeline "that is the least disruptive way possible." Jersey City Ward E Councilman Steve Fulop and Ward A Councilman Michael Sottolano, whose wards would include a portion of the pipeline, said they want more information from Spectra before the city grants approval for a site survey.

Spectra is not the only company to request Jersey City officials to conduct site surveys, the first step in a federal application process to install a pipeline. Williams, of Tulsa, Okla., already has applied to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for permission to extend its Transco Gas Line in Essex County through Bayonne. It calls for slightly more than eight-tenths of a mile of new pipeline from Newark to an existing Hess petroleum line, which would be converted to natural gas. The Hess line is 5.41 miles long and runs along the New Jersey Turnpike extension along Route 440 to New Hook Access Road, where the Bayonne Energy Center would be constructed. The estimated cost is $17.2 million.

Neither Spectra nor Williams could be reached for comment.

--Journal staff writer Melissa Hayes and the AP contributed to this report.

[bdlaw]

[MCA™]

JC Reporter update:


Pipe may run through Jersey City, Bayonne
City councilman concerned about gas company’s proposal
by Ricardo Kaulessar
Reporter Staff Writer

Jersey City and Bayonne homeowners will have the opportunity in March to find out more about a proposed pipeline running through their town.

That’s when Spectra Energy Corp., based in Houston, Tex., plans to hold public meetings to inform the public about a 16-mile pipeline extension through Bayonne and Jersey City. The line would allow natural gas to flow from its existing metering and regulating station in Staten Island, N.Y., through Hudson County into Manhattan.

The gas would initially come from Pennsylvania to the tri-state area, and would transport up to 800 million cubic feet per day of new natural gas supplies. It could be in service by the end of 2013.

Spectra spokesperson Marylee Henley said the supply will be primarily received by the New York utility Con Edison. She said the reason for the pipeline expansion was one of demand. “In the Northeast, there is a greater need for natural gas,” Henley said.

The public meetings, whose exact dates have not yet been determined, are part of the early process in putting down any pipeline. The meetings will help the company determine which route the pipeline will take as to not pose any problems to residents.

After a site survey is done, the pipeline project will then have to be approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), according to Henley.

Henley said Spectra reached out initially to Jersey City officials last spring about the project in order to get authorization to do a site study of the relevant areas in Jersey City. She said those officials were “very interested” in learning more about the project. Discussions are continuing.

But at least one city official is not interested in seeing the pipeline come to fruition anytime soon.

Piping up in opposition
Jersey City Councilman Steven Fulop acknowledged recently that Spectra had reached out to him as well as several other City Council members about their project last year.

But he said he saw those talks as just “preliminary discussions” that will not materialize. He said he is very concerned about what Spectra has in mind, as he believes the pipeline will run through downtown Jersey City, which he represents on the council.

Fulop said the proposed Spectra project brings back bad memories of a pipeline explosion in his hometown of Edison in central New Jersey in 1994, when Fulop was 17 years old. That explosion, known officially as the Texas Eastern Transmission Corporation Natural Gas Pipeline Explosion and Fire, occurred in March of that year, when a natural gas pipeline broke and exploded into flames next to an apartment complex not far from Fulop’s high school.

The explosion destroyed many of the apartment buildings in the complex and caused the death of one woman.

Coincidentally, the Spectra pipeline project would be an expansion of the same Texas Eastern Transmission pipeline that runs from Texas and the Gulf Coast to the Northeast United States.

“I wrote a letter to the council and to Mayor [Jerramiah] Healy about not allowing them to do a site survey,” Fulop said. “It was for the reason that once they do the site survey, you can’t stop the process.”

Fulop said he reached out to Spectra and asked that they hold public meetings to get input before conducting the site survey. But he said a Spectra rep told him that they will do the site survey and then do the public meetings.

“This project is a detriment to the city; I don’t really see the benefit,” Fulop said.

[fasteddie]

Looking at the map, it seems to be going through Country Village which is expendable anyway. All that really matters is that it doesn't go through MY neighborhood.

[MCA™]

GAS LINE COMING?
Jersey City, Bayonne wooed for pipeline
Saturday, January 02, 2010
By MELISSA HAYES
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

A natural gas line to New York could make its way through Jersey City and Bayonne. Two companies have asked Jersey City officials to conduct site surveys, the first step in a federal application process to install a pipeline.



One of those companies, Williams, of Tulsa, Okla., already has applied to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for permission to extend its pipeline in Essex County through Bayonne. The other company, Houston-based Spectra Energy, has approached Jersey City City Council members whose wards would be impacted by the proposed gas pipeline.

Ward E Councilman Steve Fulop and Ward A Councilman Michael Sottolano both said they want more information from Spectra before the city grants approval for a site survey. "Allowing them to do the site survey is akin to inviting Dracula into the blood bank," Fulop said. "There is no good conclusion from that." Williams also wants to conduct a survey in the city, but Fulop and Sottolano said the company did not approach them directly.

Sottolano said he is concerned because the city has no jurisdiction over the federal application process once it begins. "We would like to have a heck of a lot more input," he said.

Sottolano and Fulop said they want a public meeting. Fulop wrote a letter to council members and city administrators Dec. 18 requesting one. "It is imperative with regards to health risk, process, benefits to the city all be made public prior to granting any access for them to do a site survey," he wrote.

Representatives from Williams and Spectra did not return calls for comment. Williams already has an application before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to extend its Transco Gas Line from Essex County through Bayonne. It calls for slightly more than eight-tenths of a mile of new pipeline from Newark to an existing Hess petroleum line, which would be converted to natural gas. The Hess line is 5.41 miles long and runs along the New Jersey Turnpike extension along Route 440 to New Hook Access Road, where the Bayonne Energy Center would be constructed. The estimated cost is $17.2 million. U.S. Rep. Michael McMahon, D-13th of New York, whose district is across the river from Bayonne, has written a letter to the commission opposing the project for air quality and health reasons.

Spectra has not yet filed an application for the proposed line in Jersey City, which would also include pipeline in Bayonne. Bayonne spokesman Joe Ryan said Spectra has contacted city officials. "The administration has been working with Spectra to come up with a way of building this pipeline that is the least disruptive way possible," he said. "The city is concerned with the possible impact that the pipeline would have on private homeowners."

©2010 Jersey Journal

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