Plans for a natural gas pipeline running from Pennsylvania to central New Jersey, through a handful of area municipalities, were scrapped in 2021 following seven years of strong opposition from many local residents.

PennEast pipeline representatives told the media in late September it had not received certain permits, including a water quality certification and other wetlands permits under Section 401 of the Clean Water Act for the New Jersey portion of the project, and had therefore determined the project was “no longer supported.”

At its Dec. 16, 2021, meeting, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission vacated the Certificates of Public Convenience and Necessity it had issued for the pipeline.

It also dismissed PennEast’s application to construct the Penn­East pipeline in two phases.

The PennEast project dates back to 2014, when the company announced plans for a 116-mile pipeline, proposed to run from Luzerne County to Mercer County, New Jersey.

If built as planned, the pipeline would have run through Towamensing, Lower Towamensing, Kidder and Penn Forest townships in Carbon County, and Eldred Township in Monroe County.

At one time, Blue Mountain Resort in Lower Towamensing Township had been hoping the pipeline would provide access to natural gas it needed for an expansion project including an outdoor water park and a four-star condominium resort hotel. FERC issued PennEast its certificate of public convenience and necessity in 2018, stating, “the benefits that the PennEast project will provide to the market outweigh any adverse effects on existing shippers, other pipelines and their captive customers, and on landowners and surrounding communities.”

From there, however, public pressure continued to ramp up against the pipeline.

During a hearing in January 2021, local residents spoke out about the potential adverse impacts of the project.

“This project offers no public benefit,” Linda Christman, president of the opposition group Save Carbon County, said during her testimony. “Pennsylvania already has energy security as we are a gas exporter. This project would cut through 96 water bodies and 130 wetlands, surely some of which could have been avoided entirely, but PennEast always chooses the cheapest routes and methods. It will take decades for preconstruction conditions to be restored.”

Dan Kunkle, representing the Lehigh Gap Nature Center, called the pipeline, “a pig in the parlor and a thinly disguised attempt to get fracked gas from Pennsylvania to export facilities in New Jersey.”

“If this is going to take place,” he said, “100 percent co-location of the pipeline should be required.”

Most of the supporting comments for the pipeline came from union workers who could potentially land work during construction of the pipeline and nonprofit organizations.

Prior to dropping the project, PennEast said it planned to have Phase 1 of the pipeline in service by November 2021. That entailed around 68 miles of the pipeline from Dallas Township in Luzerne County to Bethlehem Township in Northampton County.

When PennEast pulled the plug on the project, state Rep. Doyle Heffley expressed his disappointment.

“It’s frustrating to see all the activists and groups that tried to shut it down at a time when home heating oil prices are soaring and gas prices are soaring,” Heffley said in September. “As a nation and a state, we need to be focused on ensuring we have the energy to power into the future. This would have been a boom for the economy and our tax base.”

For Christman and members of Save Carbon County, 2021 brought an end to seven years of standing their ground.

“It’s wonderful, absolutely wonderful,” Christman said. “We were prepared to keep fighting them. I think staying with it was the key. The pipeline companies always think they can outlast volunteer groups. But we all stuck with it for seven years. I have a note pasted on my fridge that says never give up, and that has never been more true.”