Earlier this year, I characterized the Penn-East pipeline project as a David vs. Goliath battle. Well, Goliath is looking a lot bigger these days as the courts have sided with the company in two critical eminent domain cases against landowners in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Eminent domain is the right of government to take private property for public use because of its sovereign power over all lands within its jurisdiction.

Residents and organizations have joined forces to impede or halt the $1.3 billion, 120-mile pipeline proposal that would snake through Carbon and Northampton counties on its way from Luzerne County in northeastern Pennsylvania to Mercer County in central New Jersey.

The consortium of oil, gas and pipeline companies, including UGI Energy Services, won a significant victory last week when a federal judge in the Garden State ruled that the pipeline company could continue taking land through eminent domain proceedings so long as landowners are appropriately compensated.

Earlier, a Pennsylvania federal judge ruled that the remaining holdout property-owner in Towamensing Township had to give the company access to her land in Carbon County to do surveying work.

The ruling by Judge Malachy Mannion of Pennsylvania’s Middle District clears the way for PennEast to go on the property of Susana Bullrich to conduct surveying activities.

Ever since they began challenging the massive project, residents have been on highs and lows with good and bad news. The problem for the opponents, however, is that now most of the news is bleak, and, unless an unexpected obstacle comes along, it appears as if the company has clear sailing to begin construction.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission gave PennEast permission to begin the project, ruling that market benefits outweigh any adverse impact on landowners, who live in Towamensing, Lower Towamensing, Penn Forest and Kidder townships in Carbon County and Easton and the townships of Bethlehem, East Allen, Lehigh, Moore, Lower Nazareth, Lower Saucon and Upper Nazareth in Northampton County.

Opponents were encouraged when the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection rejected PennEast’s application for permits for portions of the project.

The company has been trying to work with the New Jersey DEP to satisfy its objections. Opponents were also heartened when Democrat Phil Murphy was elected governor in the Garden State. He had campaigned vigorously against the pipeline, citing environmental concerns.

Assemblyman Leonard Lance, a Hunterdon County Republican, also has been a vocal opponent of the pipeline, saying that it would split Hunterdon in two. Hunterdon, along with Warren County, has huge swaths of open space that stand in contrast to the perception of an industrial New Jersey. Lance, however, was defeated in a re-election bid on Nov. 6 and will leave office at the end of the year.

The company said in Carbon it wants permanent easements, which it would keep for the operation of the pipeline, and temporary easements to be used during construction.

Opponent groups, such as Save Carbon County and the New Jersey Sierra Club, pledged to fight on with more protests and behind-the-scenes efforts. They see the pipeline as a scourge on the environment and on sensitive wildlife and natural habitats.

Save Carbon County says that PennEast wants a 400-foot survey corridor and a 50-foot permanent easement through private property all along the route. The organization says that the company will “permanently remove trees and other vegetation and use toxic chemicals to prevent future growth.”

These opponent organizations fear that what happened at the Sunoco Pipeline project could happen here. The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection last February fined Sunoco $12.6 million for environmental violations at its Mariner East 2 pipeline, which stretches 350 miles from a Marcellus Shale deposit in western Pennsylvania to a terminal near Philadelphia.

Meanwhile, supporters of the PennEast project say it will give area residents one of the most affordable and abundant supplies of natural gas in North America, leading to the lowering of gas and electricity costs and increase reliability, improve air quality and make the region more competitive for jobs.

PennEast insists that in response to community input, it has “evaluated more than 100 route options and implemented multiple route modifications to advance safe pipeline construction and operations while minimizing impact on the community and environment.”

These titanic struggles, which have played out all across the country, pit the conflicting interests between companies looking to provide a more affordable product, and, of course, making significant profits in the process, against residents and organizations concerned with the impact that these projects will have on the bucolic landscape and pristine refuge they call home.

By Bruce Frassinelli | tneditor@tnonline.com