The Princeton-Montgomery pipeline has been the source of contention between an Oklahoma-based company and environmentalists for years.
PRINCETON - The only thing standing between manufacturers and the finalization of a longterm, highly contested pipeline that runs through Princeton, is approval from a federal energy commission.
Williams Transco, the Oklahoma-based company that owns and oversaw the installment of a 42-inch natural gas pipeline that runs through Princeton and Montgomery, was attempting to secure that approval Wednesday from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), Princeton town engineer Robert Kiser said.
The pipeline is completed and pressurized, Kiser said. Once Williams Transco gets the approval - which they expected to get by Wednesday evening - they will be able to turn on the pipeline, Kiser said Wednesday afternoon.
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Getting the approval could mean the end of a long battle between Williams Transco and local environmentalists, who opposed the pipeline from the start.
FERC approved the pipeline a year ago to run through Princeton and Montgomery. The decision came as a blow to local environmentalists like the Princeton Ridge Coalition, who wrote on their website last year that the pipeline project would cause permanent deforestation and increase flooding issues in the area.
The pipeline runs through Princeton Ridge - a fact that concerned some environmentalists at first.
But, Kiser said Wednesday, Williams Transco has met with the Princeton Ridge Coalition to work through some of their concerns. In April the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection issued the company permits to construct the pipeline.
The Princeton section of the pipeline project was finished in late September, concluding two years of planning and production, Kiser said. Though the project was met with difficulties in December in a Montgomery Township section of the construction, Kiser said the issues were worked through.
FERC is expected to approve turning on the pipeline this week.
Anna Merriman may be reached at amerriman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @anna_merriman Find The Times of Trenton on Facebook.