Report: Court Blasts Feds for Not Examining Gas Pipeline Environmental Impacts

Federal regulators did not properly vet the potential environmental impacts of a Tennessee Gas pipeline extension project that runs through Mahwah and other areas of New Jersey and Pennsylvania, according to an appeals court decision last week, NorthJersey.com reported.

A three-judge panel in Washington DC said the federal regulatory commission did not look at the cumulative impact of the project, which included four added segments along the pipeline, the report said.

The decision came in a complaint filed by several environmental groups against the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the report said. The pipeline, which included additions through the Ramapo Reservation in Mahwah, runs through the New Jersey Highlands, and has garnered complaints from environmentalists since the project proposal began in 2010. 

The controversial project was completed last year.

Tennessee Gas reps said the court decision should not affect gas delivery through the pipeline, the report said.

"Whether the completed expansion projects are considered individually, as FERC did, or cumulatively, we do not expect any change in the ultimate conclusion that there was no significant environmental impact resulting from the projects," Tennessee told NorthJersey.com.