West Milford Township weighing opposition to proposed Pilgrim Pipeline

While their counterparts in neighboring municipalities are pulling no punches with their opposition to the proposed Pilgrim Pipeline, local representatives are apparently unsure about getting involved in the nearby fray.

Last week, the West Milford Township Council gave its consensus to draft a resolution in opposition to the proposed installation of a crude oil pipeline along Interstate 287 for consideration at an upcoming council meeting. It was nothing that could be considered overwhelming support, however. During their April 1 meeting, only two of the council's six members verbally endorsed joining an opposing faction that includes neighboring municipalities, like Ringwood, Bloomingdale, and Kinnelon.

Councilman Michael Hensley said West Milford should join its neighbors in order to send its own message, if not simply to back up the towns in the proposed pipeline's path.

"One of the reasons that I would encourage support of this opposition is to sort of send a message so that a future oil company ... doesn't try to look at the map and say let's run one through West Milford," Hensley said. "Having these kinds of pipelines come through our territory, whether it's a town or two over or through our township, should be taken seriously and it's an opportunity to send the message that we're not interested."

Other area towns like Pequannock, Riverdale, Wanaque, and Pompton Lakes have also adopted resolutions challenging the Pilgrim Pipeline company's plans to construct a 178-mile pipeline from Albany, N.Y., to Linden. West Milford's Environmental Commission has recommended the Township Council do the same.

A commission report cited both the highly combustible Bakken Shale crude the pipe would potentially carry as well as the controversial practice of fracking, or using a pressurized solution to fracture subsurface rock, to release the fossil fuel in its opposition. Members of the local opposition have also noted that any pipeline malfunction could have widespread regional implications.

"It sounded like it was far away but the [resolution from] Ringwood mentioned that it goes through the Highlands preservation area and is also located less than one-half mile upstream from the Wanaque Reservoir," Mayor Bettina Bieri added.

Currently, it is unknown whether the pending resolution has enough support to gain the four votes needed for adoption. Per West Milford's town code, however, a tie-breaking vote of the council would allow the mayor to cast the deciding vote. And Mayor Bieri has hinted at her potential opposition, referencing the Tennessee Gas Pipeline Company's controversial 300 Line Project that clear cut a 6.7-mile-long strip to install a natural gas transmission line through West Milford's woods.

"I've had enough of pipelines, personally," Bieri said.

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