Lower Saucon Township Council members agreed at a meeting Oct. 15 that more information is needed about PennEast’s proposed natural gas pipeline–which will pass through the northeast corner of the township, according to a preliminary map. But they differed over how best to coax that information out of the company.
Councilman Tom Maxfield recommended that a private meeting between township and company officials be requested, following reports about PennEast “canceling public meetings.”
“I guess they’re getting tired of getting yelled at,” he said.
Councilwoman Priscilla deLeon, however, said a company representative she spoke with at a recent public meeting in Williams Township had assured her that plans will continue to be presented in public.
“Don’t give them an option of a private meeting,” she said, adding that many township “residents don’t know what’s going on.”
Maxfield continued to argue that a private meeting should be scheduled, at which a more controlled atmosphere will prevail, and made a motion that a private meeting be requested with PennEast.
“The hysteria factor really bothers me,” said Maxfield, who is also a member of the township’s Environmental Advisory Council (EAC), which voted earlier this month to send a letter to council requesting that a public meeting with PennEast be scheduled.
For example, he said, he’s heard people saying that houses along Redington Road will be destroyed by the pipeline.
“We don’t know that,” he emphasized.
Opposition to the pipeline has also materialized on Facebook, where a page called “Stop the PennEast Pipeline” (https://www.facebook.com/stopthepenneastpipeline) had 1,244 members as of Monday.
“I believe it’s coming,” Maxfield said of the pipeline, which would cross Redington Road and Lower Saucon Road near the I-78/Route 33 interchange, south of the Lehigh River.
Maxfield subsequently changed his motion to specify that a public meeting with PennEast be requested secondarily after resident Andrea Danner urged that the public be included in the discussions.
“I’m requesting you request two public meetings,” she said.
Council approved a motion to request two meetings with PennEast 4-0.
On Friday, a four-part informational overview about the proposed pipeline project was posted on the township’s website:http://www.lowersaucontownship.org/pdf/pepp1.pdf.
According to that overview, about 1.5 miles of the total 108-mile, 36-inch pipeline would pass through Lower Saucon.
The pipeline is expected to deliver enough natural gas to heat more than 4.7 million homes per day, according to PennEast.
Following the Oct. 15 meeting, PennEast released a schedule of open house meetings it plans to hold throughout eastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
The only meeting that will be held locally will take place Wednesday, Nov. 12 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. and will be held at the Hanover Township Community Center, 3660 Jacksonville Road, Bethlehem.
According to a flyer about the open houses posted on the Lower Saucon Township website, “the open houses are one of several steps in PennEast’s commitment to communicating and working with you and other stakeholders. Local input is important to identifying a pipeline route that will minimize impact to the environment and community while providing a safe and reliable way to deliver low cost natural gas, stable supplies and overall reduced energy costs to consumers in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.”