On February 28, the U.S Army Corp. of Engineers issued a permit to Delaware River Partners LLC for installing docking structures and performing dredging for their LNG export port facility in Greenwich Township, Gloucester County, New Jersey.

“The Army Corp. has just given permits for a dangerous and unnecessary LNG port in Gibbstown on the Delaware River. The Army Corp, instead of scrutinizing this project, rubber-stamped the permits to Delaware River Partners. This project has lacked transparency and real input from the public and will have major consequences to the environment and to public safety in the region. They failed to do a proper EIS or look at the water impacts and the impacts to endangered species like the Atlantic Sturgeon. This is extremely alarming and concerning because a port along the Delaware River where combustible fuel like LNG is being transported and stored brings great danger to the region from potential spills and explosions,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “Army Corp. deliberately ignored an open NEPA process and environmental review. This project not only hurts the environment, but there is no benefit for the region because it is for exporting LNG. This is another example of the Trump Administration siding with polluters and fracking over public safety.”

The construction of Dock 2 involves dredging approximately 665,000 cubic yards (cy) of sediment from the Delaware River. This will seriously impact the river because the site is a Superfund site and former DuPont explosives manufacturing site that is contaminated.

“Instead of doing their job, Army Corp. just pushed out a permit. This is the wrong project in the wrong place at the wrong time. This will cause serious impacts to the Delaware River, both to the environment and to public safety. The Repauno site where the project is proposed has already been contaminated over the years and is a Superfund Site. Any type of dredging and construction will resuspend contamination like PCBs into the estuary and impact spawning habitats of endangered species like the Atlantic Sturgeon. They will be dumping millions of toxic soil that could also pollute the groundwater. A port at this site will cause more flooding and more pollution. The dock will be almost 4 acres and will hurt the shallows in the area, will stick out to the water and affect navigation,” said Tittel.

According to Army Corp.’s supplemental notice, the LNG product will arrive at the proposed structure via truck or tanker railcar. Approximately 13 trucks per hour would enter the site, 24/7. The proposed operations at the Site will generate approximately 15 trucks in and out of the facility per hour on average. Each truck would carry approximately 12,000 gallons of product.

“There will be close to 1,650 trucks that would transport LNG to the site each day. The company will bring 5 million gallons of LNG a day to the port from truck or rail, this is equivalent to 2 billion gallons of natural gas. What’s worse is that they are creating a sacrifice zone for export to Europe and other places. These trucks will be bombs on wheels coming through Pennsylvania and New Jersey. A leak from any of those trucks could instantly kill everything within 550 yards. A fireball could have a radius as large as a mile-and-a-half. The blast zone from an explosion could spread as wide as two-and-a-half miles,” said Tittel. “Bridge and river traffic would be greatly disrupted by a LNG port. The National Guard would have to close off bridges to allow tankers through, as happens in Boston.”

The natural gas liquids that would be transported in, handled, stored and shipped out of the facility pose safety risks and the danger of exposure to hazardous contaminants for people in the region.

“An LNG port in the Delaware will not only cause catastrophic damage to the river and surrounding area, but prompt more fracking, and more use of GHG’s. The Army Corp. did not look at the impacts and secondary impacts this project will have to climate change, fracking, pollution from truck traffic, safety and more. By giving away this permit, they failed to protect our environment, our safety, and our precious drinking water,” said Tittel.

The DRBC will hold an adjudicatory hearing (a trial-like proceeding before a Hearing Officer) commencing April 15, 2020, on Docket D-2017-009-2, issued by the Commission to Delaware River Partners, LLC for the project known as the Gibbstown Logistics Center Dock 2.

“With more and more information coming out about this disastrous LNG proposal, the more reason for the judge to overturn DRBC’s approval to this dangerous facility. We thank the Delaware Riverkeeper Network and all of their work on this to make this hearing happen. Now with this adjudicatory hearing, the public now has a right to add more information about the damage to the LNG proposal and why the DRBC need to side with our public safety over polluters. Even though Army. Corp’s permit approval is a bump in the road, The NJ Sierra Club along with the Delaware Riverkeeper Network and other groups will fight and keep on fighting. It is too important for our environment, but more importantly for the safety of our communities,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club.