State Police respond to call about PennEast surveyors

The land trust is considering further legal action.

KINGWOOD -- The Hunterdon Land Trust sent a cease and desist letter to PennEast after discovering contractors allegedly trespassing on the Muddy Run Preserve in Hunterdon County on Wednesday.

PennEast contractors were attempting to survey the property, which lies in the proposed pipeline route, despite the land trust having denied the natural gas company permission to survey it, trust officials said.

No trespassing was involved, PennEast spokeswoman Patricia Kornick said on Friday. "PennEast was on the public roadway, and not on the property."

Trust officials say PennEast acknowledged it did not have permission to survey Muddy Run as recently as Aug. 11 when it sent another letter requesting permission to do so and stating, "To date, we have not received the requested permission to survey your property."

"PennEast contacted us last year requesting permission to survey Muddy Run, and we refused," said Patricia Ruby, executive director of the Hunterdon Land Trust. "Despite this, they entered our property without permission, and we will respond appropriately."

Ruby said the land trust is considering further legal action.

The land trust reported being notified by neighbors who spotted surveyors with out-of-state license plates entering the preserve. Land Trust Steward Tom Thorsen rushed to the preserve shortly before noon where he found surveyors working and asked them to leave, the trust stated.

The Land Trust had called the New Jersey State Police, and a trooper arrived shortly after Thorsen.

"Two people said they were surveyors with PennEast, and they were asked to leave the property," State Police Capt. Stephen Jones confirmed on Friday. "They were asked to leave and they did so."

PennEast's Kornick confirmed that the surveyors left when asked. "Even though they were on the public roadway and not on the property, they chose to leave," Kornick said. She added that she was pleased to hear that State Police were called.

"PennEast takes allegations of trespassing very seriously, because it erodes the  public's confidence," she said.

PennEast has filed a formal application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to build a $1.2 billion pipeline stretching from northeastern Pennsylvania through Hunterdon County to Mercer County.

The Muddy Run Preserve, located off Kingwood-Locktown Road, is 62 acres of farm fields and woodlands. The preserve is a habitat for grasslands and birds, and is named after a tributary of the Lockatong Creek.

"We're particularly concerned about the pipeline's impact on the Muddy Run Preserve because the land borders the Lockatong Creek, which is a Category 1 stream," Ruby said. "This means the state considers it to hold exceptional ecological, recreational or water-supply significance."

PennEast, a consortium of natural gas companies, is attempting to build a 110-mile, 36-inch pipeline stretching from Northeastern Pennsylvania to Hopewell Township. The proposal has drawn the ire of residents throughout the affected area, and every municipality in New Jersey that the pipeline traverses has passed resolutions against it.

The Land Trust filed comments to express its concerns about the pipeline with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), the agency that will decide whether the pipeline gets built.  Its comments specifically cited the harm the pipeline would cause at Muddy Run.

"The project will result in significant forest fragmentation, which further enables the spread of invasive species and degrades the diversity and dispersion of native flora and fauna," the Land Trust's FERC filing noted.

"The route also impacts threatened and endangered species, including state threatened species such as the wood turtle and long-tailed salamander found in the environs of the Muddy Run Preserve."

Sallie Graziano may be reached at sgraziano@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @SallieGraziano. Find The Hunterdon County Democrat on Facebook.