Summary

In 2011, New Jersey Natural Gas (NJNG) received approvals to construct an 18-inch natural gas pipeline to eventually replace the 10-inch pipe running from Route 520 and Holmdel Road through Holmdel to Hazlet and points beyond. NJNG deemed this an infrastructure upgrade.  This construction took place in 2011-2012.

In 2015, NJNG filed an application to build a Natural Gas Regulator Station at 970 Holmdel Road (just north of Route 520) on a 16-acre lot with an existing solar farm.  Twelve variances/waivers were required for approval, including:

• Adding an additional use in zoning to allow for the station

• Decreasing its buffer from nearby residences by more than 75%

• Relief from height requirements to allow for three 15 feet high heat emission stacks

• Relief from environmental impact studies that would determine this project’s potential effects on the environment and the nearby farm and residents (see Attachment A for full public notice)

This regulator station was be placed in the setback area of the solar farm just feet from the roadway and close to homes, offices, and a preserved farm/vineyard. It would sit on the Swimming River Reservoir watershed which supplies drinking water to more than 300,000 Monmouth County residents. The regulator station was designed to include three 15-foot-high stacks that would continuously discharge various emissions, including CO2, VOCs and other chemicals that have been linked to cancer and respiratory conditions. It also posed safety, noise, and environmental concerns for the nearby families as well as the crops and vineyard across the street.

The purpose of this regulator station was to reduce gas pressure in the high-pressure line on Route 520 that originated in Jamesburg, NJ, and transport gas at the reduced pressure through Holmdel into Hazlet and out to shore points.

CILU and other residents opposed this regulator station because it was designed to feed “city-level capacities” and would not significantly benefit Holmdel residents. With a population of approximately 17,000, these “improvements” were incongruent with the needs of Holmdel residents. There have been no substantial gas outages for at least twenty years so that adding a regulator station would not benefit our community over and above what is currently available.

After multiple public hearings during 2016 with much public opposition, the Zoning Board voted on December 7, 2016 to denied NJNG’s application.  A month later, NJNG appealed the Zoning Board decision to the NJ Board of Public Utilities (BPU). Holmdel residents then filed a petition with NJNG and the BPU.  In June of that year, a public hearing was held by a judge from the Office of Administrative Law (OAL).  The case is now awaiting briefs by all parties.

Things were quiet until March 2018 when NJNG submitted a new application with the Holmdel Zoning Board for the 16-acre site of the office building next door at 960 Holmdel Road. NJNG had been seeking twelve variances to allow this industrial use in an area zoned OL-2 (Office-Laboratory). The regulator station as designed would be 186.4 feet from Holmdel Road, where Township ordinances require at least a 400-foot setback. The equipment would be situated 266.4 feet from the Fox Hollow Vineyard across the street, where a minimum setback of 600 feet is required. It would be located 37 feet away from the Cornerstone Solar Power Holmdel property line.

Below are some of the reasons that CILU opposed this application:

• NJNG’s filing with state agencies for the previous application at 970 Holmdel Road, including the OAL, omitted the public’s extensive testimony from all the Zoning Board Hearings, thereby quelling the residents’ voices on this project.

• A variance was sought to greatly reduce the buffer zone between this industrial use and nearby residents. Impacts on nearby homes and farmland (environmental, quality of life, decreased property values) were not adequately addressed by the Zoning Board or satisfactorily responded to by NJNG.

• An independent Environmental Impact Study (EIS) was waived. This study is necessary to determine the regulator station’s impact on nearby vegetation and livestock, air quality, and water quality for the Swimming River Watershed. 

• The 2011 Zoning Board approvals for the adjacent solar farm required 12 variances and 11 waivers. The NJNG denied application required 12 additional variances and waivers that were inconsistent with State, County, and Municipal Master Plans and ordinances. NJ Department of Environmental Protection statutes, regulations and rules for potable water supplies and environmentally sensitive lands were totally discounted or ignored during meetings and hearings.

• The NJNG Holmdel Road pipeline installation applications in 2011 conveniently omitted the then long-range requirements that NJNG later alleged were desperately needed. This would be a self-imposed hardship by NJNG that the municipality should not be coerced into accommodating as compensation the NJNG’s flawed planning.

On Thursday, October 25, 2018, the Holmdel Zoning Board unanimously rejected this second application by NJNG for the 960 Holmdel Road site. One month later, NJNG again appealed to the BPU, this time for the 960 Holmdel Road site.

The Holmdel Township Committee voted in December 2019 not to approve the proposed settlement agreement between NJNG, the NJ Division of Rate Counsel, the BPU, and Holmdel Township which, if approved, would have allowed for the construction of a gas regulator station on Holmdel Road.  As a result, the case went back before the OAL judge.

In early 2020, a new resident petition was completed and submitted at the February 2020 public hearing with the OAL Judge. The application is now pending.   

On December 16, 2020, NJNG submitted an appeal to both the NJ BPU and NJ OAL for the gas regulator station.