Comment on Plains Township fire chief blasts PennEast’s impact statement

Plains Township fire chief blasts PennEast’s impact statement

The Plains Township fire chief has some major qualms with plans to construct a natural gas pipeline near two rock quarries in the township and is far from reassured by the pipeline company’s impact plan submitted to a federal regulatory agency. Fire Chief Carl Baker on Tuesday submitted written comments to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission regarding PennEast Pipeline’s Draft Environmental Impact Statement. FERC held a public hearing last week at Best Western Genetti Hotel and Conference Center in Wilkes-Barre to allow the public to comment on the the statement submitted by PennEast for the project, which entails constructing a 36-inch, 118-mile natural gas pipeline from Dallas Township to Hopewell Township, N.J. Baker noted that he concentrated his comments at the hearing on a PennEast report addressing blasting at the Trap Rock quarry in New Jersey, and he tried to apply some of that information to the two local quarries, because “it seems that FERC is unwilling to speak to the potential hazardous condition at these Plains Township sites.” Baker said that in the entire 1,100-plus pages of the report, “I’ve been able to find a whopping three sentences committed to blasting at these Plains Township quarries.” The first sentence identifies the quarries as Pioneer Aggregates on East Saylor Avenue and Wilkes-Barre Materials on Ridgewood Road and states they are located “WITHIN 1,320 feet of the project.” The previous report, he writes, “took great pains to emphasize the Trap Rock quarry in New Jersey is greater than 2,000 feet away from the pipeline.” The second sentence states that PennEast has contacted quarry owners and aligned the pipeline to avoid future expansion plans of the quarries. “This one is priceless and a real keeper,” Baker said.

 

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