Opposition to Proposed Spectra Energy PipelineUpdate 10/12/12 - 
Mayor Jerramiah T. Healy announced today that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has announced a rehearing on Thursday, Oct. 18, 2012 of the petition to construct the controversial Spectra Energy natural gas pipeline. Read more.
Mayor Healy and the Municipal Council unanimously oppose the proposed 30 inch gas pipeline which Spectra Energy plans to build through over six miles of Jersey City's most densely populated and historic neigborhoods.
Update 2012 05 22: Mayor Healy announced the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has approved a proposal authorizing the construction of a high-pressure natural gas pipeline to run through 6.5 miles of the densely populated Jersey City.
“While we are extremely disappointed, we are not entirely surprised as this entire process has lacked an independent and thorough analysis,” said Mayor Healy. “We are committed to fighting this decision and will appeal to FERC for a rehearing and if, necessary, bring the matter to the federal circuit court.”
The City, as an intervenor, has 30 days to file a motion with FERC for a rehearing. “While cases that have challenged past FERC decisions on pipelines have nearly all – if not all – failed, we are not without hope,” said Mayor Healy. “The way the system is structured, and as it stands, is one that grants federal agencies way too much discretion. It puts cities like ours at a major disadvantage. Despite this, we are going to continue the fight to convince FERC or a federal circuit court that we’re right.”
Mayor Healy added that in addition to the conventional measures at hand, the City is also exploring other avenues to challenge this decision.
Update 2011 11 01 - Today, Mayor Healy released the City's 28 page response to the Federal Energy Regulatory Agency's Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS), which was released last month. Read the response here.
Read 11/1/11 article on Mayor Healy's response to FERC's DEIS and his vow to take the suit to court, if necessary.
Update 2011 10 27 - At the final public comment hearing held by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on October 19, 2011, Mayor Healy spoke to the New York Times, which covered the packed meeting. Read article here.
Read Mayor Healy's May 18, 2011, Star Ledger Op-Ed piece, "Pipeline has no place in N.J.'s Jersey City," where the Mayor lays out the reasons why the Spectra Pipeline is dangerous for Jersey City.
On January 13, 2011, Mayor Healy formally filed for "Intervenor Status" on behalf of the City of Jersey City with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), which included an extension which would give the City time to review the more than 2,000-page application Spectra filed with FERC on December 20, 2010. Read the Mayor's Motion to Intervene here.
In addition, on January 19, 2011, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) announced that it had joined Jersey City and had filed for Intervenor Status in the Spectra Pipeline expansion. On November 22, 2010, Mayor Healy wrote to Governor Chris Christie asking that the Governor "take a strong stance in opposition to the natural gas pipeline that Spectra Energy is proposing for Jersey City...." Read DEP article here.
On that same date, the City Council unanimously approved 10 ordinances prohibiting the construction of natural gas pipelines in redevelopment areas. Earlier this year, in a letter to FERC, Mayor Healy also announced his intention to file for Intervenor Status on behalf of the City of Jersey City as soon as the City is legally able to do so in December 2010. Spectra Energy plans to file their formal application with FERC on or around December 20, 2010.
Residents have also united in their opposition to this project through the formation of the citizens group NoGasPipeline.org.
See Mayor Healy's Response To The Spectra Pipeline Television Campaign
See Local News Report Chronicling Jersey City's Battle With Spectra
View more videos at: http://nbcnewyork.com.
What Spectra Plans
Spectra Energy is a Texas-based natural gas company which was awarded a contract by ConEdison to supply natural gas to the residents of the City of New York. To do so, Spectra Energy, which currently owns a generating plant in 
Linden, N.J., will apply in December 2010 to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for authorization to install a pipeline from Linden to a ConEdison Plant on West 14th Street in Manhattan.
To accomplish this, Spectra is planning to build 15.5 miles of new pipeline from Linden through Staten Island and which will run through Bayonne and 6 1/2 miles of some of the most densely populated and historic areas of Greenville, Bergen-Lafayette and Downtown Jersey City. The current plans also have the pipeline running close to critical Tier 1 and Tier 2 Homeland Security-designated infrastructure such as the New Jersey Turnpike, the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail, the Holland Tunnel and the PATH trains, as well as next to public parks, schools, hospitals, industrial plants and global financial institutions.
In addition, Spectra is also planning to build and operate a new meter station at 18th Street in Downtown Jersey City, near the Lackawanna Center development. The pipeline will then take a sharp turn east, continue past the Newport section of Jersey City and run under the Hudson River near the Hudson Tunnel to service customers in Manhattan.
What the City has Done
Shortly after Spectra Energy first announced its intent to build the gas pipeline through Jersey City, Mayor Healy expressed his concerns about the appropriateness and safety of the project in a January 29, 2010 letter to Senators Robert Menendez and Frank Lautenberg that was also sent to other members of the federal delegation.
The Request for an Extension or Delay of the Scoping Period and Public Meeting
.jpg "Mayor Healy addressing the crowd at the DCNA meeting on Spectra.")
After FERC announced it was going to hold an August 4th public scoping meeting, which would give residents only one chance to express their opinions and concerns regarding the pipeline, Mayor Healy requested in a July 21, 2010 letter that FERC "extend or delay the scoping period...so this administration and our citizens may fully participate...." In the letter, the Mayor pointed out that Spectra was not required to file their revisions and updates on the pipleline with FERC until August 24, 2010, well after the public meeting date. Therefore, the City was not able "to comment on any of the updates or revisions to {Spectra's} reports...." In addition, the August meeting date would be scheduled at a time when many Jersey City residents were out of the town on vacation.
"Unfortunately, not all of our constituents have the means to stay so abreast of the FERC calendar: Instead, countless worried residents and concerned volunteer, neighborhood and community groups are relying on the public comment sessions as their opportunity to lend meaningful input to the decision-making process. The current schedule deprives these citizens of their right to be fully and adequately heard," the letter stated.
The August 4, 2010, FERC Public Meeting
Mayor Healy joined over 300 citizens in opposing the proposed Spectra pipeline route when he headed the list of 50 speakers at the August 4, 2010, FERC public meeting which was held at Ferris High School.
“The first order of business for any government at any level – city, county, state, federal-- is protection of its people and that’s why I’m here, “ said Mayor Healy. “Issue number 1, 2, and 3 is safety, safety, safety.“
At one point in his remarks, the Mayor added, “There is so much at risk by this route.”
His speech drew rounds of applause and a standing ovation from the crowd.
Filing for Intervenor Status to Stop the Spectra Gas Pipeline
Update 1/13/11 - Mayor Healy announced today that he, on behalf of the City of Jersey City, has filed for “Intervenor Status” with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in an attempt to stop Spectra Energy from running a natural gas pipeline through Jersey City.
According to Mayor Healy, it is imperative that the City file for Intervenor Status to protect its ability to oppose this pipeline moving forward. Only those with Intervenor Status will ultimately be able to challenge FERC's decision on the pipeline in U.S. Appeals Court.
Spectra formally filed a more than 2,000-page application with FERC on December 20, 2010.
“While Spectra claims to have changed certain elements of its route and planned pipeline expansion, the core concerns we have for our city have not been abated,” said Mayor Healy. “This pipeline would run highly-pressurized natural gas through some of the city’s most densely populated neighborhoods, by several schools, parks, and critical transportation infrastructure. Unless this pipeline is re-routed out of Jersey City, we will not be satisfied.”
Part of the New Jersey-New York Expansion project that would run several miles of natural gas pipeline from Spectra’s plant in Linden to a Con Edison plant on the west side of Manhattan, Mayor Healy reiterated that the project’s primary and immediate purpose is to deliver gas to Consolidated Edison’s New York customers.
12/6/10 - Days after the devasting natural gas pipeline explosion on September 9, 2010, in San Bruno, California, Mayor Healy announced that he would file for "intervenor status" with FERC on behalf of the City of Jersey City in an attempt to stop Spectra Energy from running a natural gas pipeline through Jersey City..
Legally, the City can only file for "intervenor status" once Spectra officially filed its formal application with FERC, which is expected in December 2010. 
The Mayor, however, sent a letter to FERC on September 27, 2010, notifying the agency of his intent to file for "intervenor status" when it is legally allowed.
“We believe that the terrible incident that occurred in San Bruno should be the death knell for this proposed pipeline in Jersey City,” said Mayor Healy. “However, since we expect Spectra to continue to move forward with its interests in this project, so will we in our opposition to it. That is why we have declared that we will file for 'intervenor status' at the appropriate time and we are putting FERC on notice that we intend to do so.”
Several print articles published in the wake of the San Bruno disaster have begun to raise nationwide concerns over new urban pipeline projects. On September 15th, Mayor Healy and Office of Emergency Management Director Greg Kierce led NBC's Brian Thompson along the proposed Jersey City pipeline route.
Since the San Bruno explosion, which killed eight people, destroyed 38 homes, and damaged dozens more, Mayor Healy and other city officials have consistently reiterated concerns about the plan to build a natural gas pipeline here in Jersey City.
One-sixth the size of Jersey City, San Bruno has an approximate population of 40,000 residents, who are spread out over a suburban community. Jersey City, on the other hand, has a quarter of a million residents, a figure which more than doubles during the weekday work hours as commuters flood into the city, many of who work in the waterfront financial district.
Interview Courtesy of News 4 New York.
“We have repeatedly expressed our concerns about Spectra Energy running a high-pressure natural gas pipeline through our city, and what happened…in San Bruno brings those fears to a new level,” said Mayor Healy on September 10, 2010. “The explosion there claimed several lives, injured many, and leveled dozens of homes. If this type of explosion were to happen in a city our size, we cannot begin to comprehend the level of devastation, destruction and loss of life. It would be catastrophic.”
According to reports, the California natural gas pipeline that erupted was a “Class IV” pipeline, the same thickness of pipe that Spectra has proposed constructing through Jersey City. The difference, however, is that the pipeline in San Bruno was 24 inches in diameter, while the Jersey City pipeline is proposed to be even larger at 30 inches.
Mayor Healy and Members of the Municipal Council Join NoGasPipeline.org for a Benefit Screening of the Documentary "Gasland" and Panel Discussion: Demand Govenor Christie Seek Intervenor Status Now!
Mayor Healy and members of the Municipal Council joined Dale Hardman and Stephen Musgrave, the founders of the local citizen's group, NoGasPipeline.org, at a benefit screening of the Sundance Award-winning documentary, “Gasland” on Saturday, November 6, 2010, at the Landmark Loew’s Jersey Theatre in Journal Square. A panel discussion on the dangers of the planned natural gas pipeline route through Jersey City followed the screening.
“It’s heartening to see concerned citizens pledging their time and effort to oppose an imminent threat to our city and our community,” said Mayor Healy. “I commend Dale Hardman and Stephen Musgrave and all the NoGasPipeline volunteers who donated their time and efforts to coordinate this very important benefit to heighten community awareness of the dangers this pipeline poses. The more residents and business owners who become aware of this threat can only strengthen and make greater our resolve in fighting this project, which presents so much risk and danger to Jersey City and her residents, but no benefits.”
Both Mayor Healy and Dale Hardman reiterated how important it is for residents to call Governor Chris Christie and ask that the the State of New Jersey file for Intervenor Status against the pipeline's construction, as well.
Mayor Healy's Letter to the Governor Christie: Take a "Strong Stand" Against The Pipeline
On November 22, 2010, Mayor Healy sent Governor Chris Christie a letter asking that the Governor formally intervene in Spectra Energy's planned gas pipeline for Jersey City. A week earlier, the Governor had the State Attorney General file a motion to intervene in opposition to a similarly proposed gas pipeline which is to be built from Asbury Park to Middlesex County by Liberty Natural Gas.
"You are quoted in last Friday's Star-Ledger as opposing this project and that you 'will not subject our state's shore and economy to the environmental risks that are inseparable from such a project'," Mayor Healy stated in the letter.
"I am asking that you take the same strong stance in opposition to the natural gas pipeline that Spectra Energy is proposing for Jersey City, our state's second largest city," the letter went on to say.
In the letter, the Mayor out lined the numerous risks the pipeline posed to such a densly populated urban area, and highlighted the fact that the current route of the proposed pipeline would run close to infrastructure which is not only critical to the safety and security of the city's residents and commuters, but which, in the event of an explosion like the one in San Bruno, would have serious repercussion on both the state economy and the world financial markets. The pipeline "would also increase the vulnerability of Jersey City as a potential target for terror attacks," the letter added.
The letter went on to list the number of agencies which report to the state which are on the record as opposing the pipeline route through Jersey City.
The Municipal Council Unanimously Passes 10 Ordinances Prohibiting Gas Pipeline Construction in Redevelopment Areas
During its regular November 23, 2010 meeting, the City Council unanimously approved 10 ordinances prohibiting the construction of natural gas pipelines in redevelopment areas.
What Residents Can Do:
