After municipalities challenged an order granting the approval of the project, federal officials are allowing for a rehearing.
BORDENTOWN TOWNSHIP -- In a move that's being called a "first win" by environmentalists, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has granted rehearings for the Transco pipeline project.
Bordentown Township and other municipalities challenged a recent FERC order granting the approval of the Williams company's Transco Garden State Expansion project.
"Anytime we get FERC to reopen a docket and have a rehearing is an environmental victory," said Jeff Tittel, director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. "FERC almost never grants a rehearing and the fact that they did it shows that there were significant problems in the approval of Transco's application."
The municipalities' victory, however, was only a partial win. A request to have work on the project halted until the after rehearing was denied.
The Transco proposal includes the building of a compressor station and upgrades such as increasing the capacity of some lines. The work is part of a larger project that includes the Southern Reliability Link pipeline and PennEast Pipeline.
The municipalities of Bordentown Township and Chesterfield submitted requests for rehearings and a work-stoppage based on failure to comply with requirements such as not obtaining a water quality certificate as required under Section 401 of the Clean Water Act and not providing a proper Environmental Impact Statement before authorizing the project.
"Under FERC's own rules, they cannot grant Transco approval before this water certificate is granted," Tittel said.
Improperly segmenting the Transco project from other connecting pipeline projects is also a concern.
A federal court ruled that FERC cannot segment these pipelines into multiple projects and that they have to look at secondary and cumulative impacts.
"We believe they have violated their own rules," Tittel said. "We had raised all of these issues and will continue working with Bordentown and other municipalities to challenge them."
The Sierra Club says that FERC also failed to examine potential impacts to groundwater, wetlands, streams and air quality before the project was approved.
FERC's refusal to order to halt the project rejects those claims. "In approving the Garden State Expansion Project, the Commission fully considered the Environmental Assessment prepared by Commission staff and addressed the comments of Chesterfield, Bordentown and others," the order says.
"The Commission determined that... the Garden State Expansion Project, if constructed and operated in accordance with the application and supplements, and in compliance with the environmental conditions... would not significantly affect the quality of the human environment," the order says.
FERC spokeswoman Celeste Martin says that rehearings are not uncommon and are not proof of wrongdoing.
"The commission often needs more time to consider rehearing requests," Martin said.
Martin explained that if a rehearing request is submitted and not approved within 30 days the request is automatically denied. Approving a rehearing request grants FERC unlimited time in which they may reconsider the request.
The rehearing -- essentially a reexamination of paperwork, rather than a community gathering -- will allow previous intervening parties the opportunity to ask questions or express concerns about the project's impacts to human health and the environment.
"The bottom line is that this is strictly a routine procedural order and does not impact our project or its schedule," Williams spokesman Chris Stockton said.
Pipeline opponents say compressor stations can create air and water pollution through the release of toxic chemicals.
The stations experience both scheduled and unscheduled pressure releases which spray methane, ethane and other chemicals into the air.
There is also a potential for leaks, they say.
According to Williams' 10K filing with the Securities Exchange Commission, the company has $40 million worth of environmental liabilities as of Dec. 31, 2015.
"Our interstate gas pipelines are involved in remediation activities related to certain facilities and locations for polychlorinated biphenyls, mercury, and other hazardous substances," says the report.
"These activities have involved the EPA and various state environmental authorities, resulting in our identification as a potentially responsible party at various Superfund waste sites," says the report. "We have accrued liabilities of $8 million for these costs."
The report also states Williams is responsible for environmental remediation liabilities totaling $7 million for natural gas underground storage facilities --primarily related to soil and groundwater contamination.
"The liabilities... are not specific to the Transco pipeline infrastructure -- which operate in New Jersey and would be expanded as part of this project -- and which has reliably served the state of New Jersey for decades, safely providing more than half of the natural gas consumed by the state through five existing compressor facilities and more than 500 miles of pipe," Stockton said. "The proposed facilities associated with our Garden State Expansion will be operated by electric-driven motors and will have virtually zero impact on noise or air quality."
"A very small portion of those liabilities were incurred during Williams' ownership of the asset," Stockton said. "The vast majority of this is from asset acquisitions over the years."
"Those liabilities are transferred to us as part of the asset acquisition process," he said. "Therefore, referencing that number is not an accurate reflection of liabilities physically incurred by Williams."
Greg Wright may be reached at gwright@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @GregTheWright. Find NJ.com on Facebook.