Residents Continue To Lobby Hard Against Pilgrim Pipeline

MAHWAH, N.J. – A dedicated group of residents continue to fight against the Pilgrim Pipeline running through Bergen County.

More than 1,300 members of the Coalition Against Pilgrim Pipelines are working hard to try and persuade county officials to rescind allowing Pilgrim to conduct a site survey prior to the pipeline’s installation. Contractors began surveying Ramapo Valley Reservation this week.

The group is especially concerned with the pipeline crossing into the Highlands region of Mahwah and Oakland and over the Ramapo River Aquifer, which provides thousands of residents with drinking water.

“Residents do not believe Bergen County is taking the steps necessary to protect their water, property values, health and safety,” said Anne Powley, a member of the group.

The 178-mile underground pipeline would deliver crude oil from Albany, N.Y. through New Jersey and the Bayway Refinery in Linden. Gasoline and heating oil would be sent back up to New York.

The state Department of Environmental Protection gave Pilgrim permission to survey on Oakland, Woodbridge, Wanaque, and Parsippany.

The County Freeholder Board passed a resolution opposing the project, citing risks to public health, safety, and drinking water. County Executive James Tedesco has since said he supports the resolution.

“We’re working on this on so many different fronts,” said Powley. “We’re not giving up. The only way to get the permission rescinded is to get Tedesco to do it.”

Related: Contractors Begin Surveying Ramapo Valley Reservation For Oil Pipeline

Pilgrim has made the case that the project would provide jobs to 2,000 area union workers and bolster the local economy.

“We need to make the case that the potential to add a few local union jobs can’t supersede the real threat to the millions of people who are along the pipeline,” said Powley.

Eight unions, and Freeholder John A. Felice formed a coalition last year to advocate for the pipeline’s construction.

“For decades we have been reliant on foreign energy. We’ve been spending billions of dollars on getting energy from people who want to kill us,” Felice previously said. “Anything that will make us more energy efficient and helps us move energy in an efficient manner I am for.”

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