LACKAWAXEN TWP., PA — Motorists driving along Tow Path Road in the township are likely to come across flagmen at a construction site as the Tennessee Gas Pipeline (TGP), which is owned by Kinder Morgan, moves forward with installing a new pipeline alongside the existing one.

In a lawsuit regarding the first pipeline, the Delaware River Keeper Network (DNR) along with New Jersey Sierra Club and New Jersey Highlands Coalition sued the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and TGP for improper permitting of that project, called the “Northeast Upgrade Project.”

DNR and partners won. A U.S. Appeals Court three-judge panel wrote in 2014, “We hold that in conducting its environmental review of the Northeast Project without considering the other connected, closely related, and interdependent projects on the Eastern Leg, FERC impermissibly segmented the environmental review in violation of [National Environmental Policy Act] NEPA. We also find that FERC’s [environmental assessment] EA is deficient in its failure to include any meaningful analysis of the cumulative impacts of the upgrade projects.”

This new project to expand the capacity of the pipeline is called the Orion Project, and once again DNR has filed a lawsuit. According to information on the DNR website in March “DRN sued PA Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) for issuing the 105 permits for the project and sued the Army Corps for issuing the Section 404 Clean Water Act permit for the project.”

In separate, parallel lawsuits, DNR accused the two organizations of various shortcomings in the permitting process.

Aaron Stemplewicz, the attorney who litigated for DRN, said in an email that oral arguments were presented on July 13 before the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. He said they are hoping for an opinion from the court soon.