Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry President and CEO Gene Barr issued a statement Wednesday criticizing New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy’s administration’s denial of permits for the proposed Penn East pipeline project.
“New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy’s announcement last week that his administration will refuse to issue permits to the Penn East pipeline project is troubling news for the region’s economy and its environment and is, at best, legally questionable,” Barr said. “The project would have served to deliver gas to thousands of homes and businesses in Pennsylvania and New Jersey helped keep energy prices low for the entire region and would have supported energy, manufacturing, and supply chain jobs throughout Pennsylvania.”
Murphy said in a tweet on Friday that the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) denied a permit that PennEast Pipeline Co needed to build the proposed natural gas pipeline from Pennsylvania to New Jersey.
In September, a U.S. appeals court issued a ruling that prevented PennEast from using federal law to gain access to properties along the route in New Jersey.
“My Administration fought and won in court to stop the proposed 116-mile Penn East natural gas pipeline,” Murphy said in the tweet. “This week, @NewJerseyDEP denied and closed the application. We are committed to transitioning New Jersey to 100% clean energy by 2050.”
Barr responded to Murphy’s comments in his statement.
“The Governor’s statement makes clear this decision was not made on the basis of the project’s ability to comply with environmental regulations, but in the pursuit of an aspirational energy policy goal of 100 percent renewable energy decades into the future,” Barr said. “The governor has also pointed to a lower court’s decision that effectively grants states unilateral veto power over interstate projects that had already received federal approval – a decision that, to be clear, has not been affirmed by appeals courts and involves a matter still in litigation.”
PennEast spokesperson Patricia Kornick said the company “is confident the legal actions will be resolved favorably and the long-standing legal precedent under which FERC has operated … will be upheld.” The company has said that it expects to start construction on the pipeline in 2020.