The Third Circuit Court of Appeals vacated a permit last week for Transco’s Northeast Supply Enhancement (NESE), which is currently under construction and plans to carry 0.4 Bcf/d of incremental gas to New York City and Long Island. We reported last October in Vibe Check that the National Marine Fisheries Service had to issue an incident harassment authorization to Transco’s parent Williams Companies because a key portion of the work involves looping existing pipe under Raritan Bay between New York and New Jersey. The work will require two piling hammers to work underwater, creating vibrations in the bay. The vibrations may cause annoyance to marine wildlife. That federal authorization primarily concerned marine mammals and is still in force, but a state-level permit for underwater work must now go back to the drawing board.
The vacated permit was a Water Quality Certification issued by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP), which would allow the project to bore under Raritan Bay. The court said that NJDEP must resolve and clarify the “material monitoring and response terms” for dredging before work can begin, as the terms currently outlined are not specific enough. It also said the NJDEP did not prove “Transco’s prediction that surf clam populations would recover within one to three years” following the work. Hard clams are the kind most commonly encountered by people perusing the shoreline, and they are capable of fully closing their shells to protect themselves against vibrations in the water. Surf clams, on the other hand, which are more prevalent in sandy bottoms offshore, are incapable of fully closing their shells. The NJDEP attributed the one-to-three-year finding to the state’s Marine Resources Administration (MRA). But the MRA made no claim that surf clam populations would recover that quickly. Instead, it merely quoted Transco’s figure within a broader, more neutral analysis. So more independent research into the effect on surf clam populations is needed before another permit can be issued.
