Oakland Helps Create Coalition To Fight Pilgrim Pipeline

OAKLAND, N.J. — Fifteen municipalities, including Oakland, have created the Municipal Pipeline Group (MPG) in response to the proposed Pilgrim Pipeline, a 178-mile pipeline slated to run through 30 New Jersey municipalities, including several from Bergen and Morris counties.

Pilgrim Pipeline LLC wants to construct the pipeline, which would deliver up to 200,000 barrels of Bakken crude oil a day from Albany, New York through New Jersey and to the Bayway Refinery in Linden. Gasoline and heating oil would be sent back up to New York. Bakken crude oil is a highly flammable, toxic to the environment, and could cause an untold amount of damage to the environment and North Jersey ecosystem should a spill ever occur.

“We have valid concerns, especially with how we get our waters, which is through these buried aquifers,” said Chatham Councilman Len Resto. “We need to assured that this thing is safe.”

In Bergen County, Oakland and Mahwah belong to the MPG, as do municipalities in Essex, Morris, Passaic, Somerset, and Union counties. All of the group’s members have adopted resolutions opposing the pipeline. Non-profits like the New Jersey Sierra Club and Food & Water Watch have strongly opined against the pipeline.

Jeff Tittel, director of the Sierra Club previously said the pipeline could be "a disaster" for New Jersey.

The pipeline is expected to travel through some of the state’s most environmentally-pristine areas, including the Highlands region and over the Ramapo River Aquifer, which provides fresh drinking water to thousands of residents, and Wanaque Reservoir.

The group has retained John Scagnelli, of the law firm Scarinci-Hollenbeck. He has more than 15 years of experience in environmental law field, including environmental litigation, and chairs the firm’s environmental and land use law group.

“There are stream areas, water supplies, and endangered species who might be impacted by this,” Scagnelli said. “You’re not talking about natural gas, you’re talking about material that could leak out and affect natural resources.”

Another concern is the potentially negative effect the pipeline could have on property taxes throughout North Jersey — and not just where the pipeline would be built.

“We’ve got to protect the property values too,” Scagnelli said. “This isn’t just something people in these communities are dealing with. It is something everyone in North Jersey needs to be aware of.”

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

The MPG is not the first organized resistance created to fight the pipeline.

Municipal leaders in the 28 towns along the pipeline’s proposed route passed resolutions opposing its construction.

The 1,300-member Coalition Against Pilgrim Pipelines previously said that regardless of what Pilgrim claims, a spill is a real possibility.

According to the group, from 1986 to 2013, pipeline accidents have spilled an average of 3 million gallons of crude oil annually and that the average pipeline has a 57 percent chance of “experiencing a major leak.”

Surveying work for the project began at the Ramapo Valley Reservation in Mahwah in April. The work was supposed to determine if there were any endangered animal habitats in the area.

Pilgrim has filed permits with the New York Department of Environmental Protection and is “expected” to do so in New Jersey later this year, according to the coalition. State law gives the DEP 90 days on which to rule on a permit request.

“We want to protect our interests,” Scagnelli said. “We don’t want Pilgrim to just come in and do what they please.”

Email: daniel.hubbard@patch.com

Related: 28 Bergen County Municipalities Opposing Pilgrim Pipeline

Related: Coalition Launches New Offensive Against Pilgrim Pipeline Project