CHERRY HILL, N.J. (AP) - Supporters and opponents of a natural gas pipeline proposed to run through the federally protected Pinelands reserve are girding for a final battle on Friday.
The Pinelands Commission is expected to vote on the proposal at a meeting it moved to a hotel ballroom in Cherry Hill that can hold 1,500 people.
Past public hearings on the plan have drawn emotional, overflow crowds.
South Jersey Gas proposes to run the pipe mostly under or alongside existing roads to the B.L. England power plant in Upper Township. The company says it already operates over 1,400 miles of gas mains and 133 miles of elevated pressure lines within the Pinelands without harm to the environment.
Supporters say it will increase energy reliability, while environmentalists fear damage to the pristine Pinelands preserve.
The plan was narrowly defeated in 2014. But since then, Republican Gov. Chris Christie has replaced several Pinelands commissioners with supporters of the pipeline.
The commission says it will not consider factors other than whether the pipeline plan meets the narrow guidelines of its management plan for the federally protected area. Its executive director last week recommended that the commission approve the pipeline.
The director, Nancy Wittenberg, had previously unilaterally declared that the pipeline conformed with the commission’s rules, and declared it approved.
Environmentalists appealed, and a court ordered a new vote.
Friday’s anticipated vote is the final hurdle the project needs to overcome before construction can begin, according to a commission spokesman.
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