NJNG Gas Rate Hurts the Environment and Your Wallet 

New Jersey Natural Gas has filed with the BPU to increase a typical residential customer’s bill by 19 percent the company says it needs to recoup upgrades it made in its system. This would raise average monthly heating bills by $19.38. That request does not include an additional filing for a $28.6 million increase NJNG wants to recover part of its investment in the Southern Reliability Link pipeline. The SRL filing would increase the typical monthly bill by another $4.58.

“NJNG is coming after your wallet and the environment. They want to raise gas bills by a whopping 19 percent and then even more rate hikes on top of that to pay for the damaging and dangerous SRL pipeline. BPU should not entertain this hike until they put a stay on the SRL pipeline that the New Jersey Sierra Club has sought. NJNG is trying to rush through construction, and it will cost ratepayers more to take the pipeline out if we win in court. NJNG is not only hurting the environment but hitting us in our wallets. That would be another $24 a month that for some ratepayers is simply impossible. They want us to fund their effort to destroy our environment and cut a scar through the Pinelands, open space and preserved farmland,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “The SRL pipeline is a threat to communities and public safety, yet NJNG wants the people to pay for it.”

The SRL pipeline is 28-mile, 30-inch pipeline that would begin in Chesterfield, Burlington County and run through the Pinelands to the shore to connect to the utility system in Manchester Township, Ocean County. NJNG claims that this pipeline is for local resiliency and reliability against future storms.

“It is shameful that NJNG wants the ratepayers to pay for this speculative pipeline. This pipeline is not for resiliency; it’s for growth and development in Ocean County. They want to raise prices so that the people are paying for a pipeline they won’t get any use out of. All we’ll be doing is paying to destroy environmentally sensitive land and risk our drinking water supply,” said Tittel. “This is not about resiliency; it’s about expanding their franchise area for more customers and development along the coast.”

The SRL pipeline is one of 8 proposed pipelines in the state. New Jersey also faces 5 proposed power plants. That potential growth has prompted the Empower NJ coalition, including the New Jersey Sierra Club, to call for a moratorium on all fossil-fuel infrastructure projects in the state.

“If the 13 pipelines and power plants are built, greenhouse gases in New Jersey will increase by more than 30 percent. That’s why a moratorium is so important. There is no need for the SRL pipeline other than to promote fracking and the burning of fossil fuels that impact clean water and promote climate change. NJNG wants the ratepayers to pay for a pipeline that may never be built or may be built but never be used if the compressor station isn’t approved. NJNG is asking people to pay more money, some who can’t afford to do so, so that they can pollute our water and destroy our environment with their pipeline that may never be used,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “This proposal is like being asked by someone to buy the gun they will rob you with.”