Developers of a proposed pipeline cutting through Carbon County maintain they're on track to submit an official application to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission by the end of September.

Patricia Kornick, spokeswoman for the 114-mile PennEast natural gas pipeline, said that a July 2 letter from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection concerning its land use and water quality permits will not delay the project.The letter said that DEP couldn't complete its review because fewer than 35 percent of New Jersey landowners along the preferred route have given PennEast access to their property.Although that number has increased since the letter was sent, Kornick said PennEast isn't at the point in the process where permits are a concern."This is a normal part of the FERC pre-filing phase," she said. "The letter provides input for us to determine the best route. That route will be submitted to FERC as part of our official application, which will take place in the third quarter of this year. That has been the plan since we announced the project in August of last year."The permitting process would start, she said, if FERC gives PennEast a certificate of public need for the pipeline.On its way from Wilkes-Barre to Trenton, New Jersey, the pipeline is projected to slice through Kidder, Penn Forest, Towamensing and Lower Towamensing townships in Carbon County.Around 150 property owners in Carbon County would be affected by the route, a PennEast representative said in June.Linda Christman, of the opposition group "Save Carbon County," contradicted Kornick and said there would be a delay in the official application."Save Carbon County urges that they use this time to improve their proposal and reduce the impacts both humanitarian and environmental," Christman said.The group held a press conference Thursday morning in Jim Thorpe on the topic.In an announcement that opposition groups have referred to as a setback for PennEast, Mercer County officials recently revoked the company's access to a county-owned park in Titusville for surveying purposes.The county has opposed the project from the outset.In a letter to FERC in February, Mercer County Executive Brian Hughes said the public has "repeatedly and overwhelmingly approved referenda supporting open space and farmland preservation, largely for the purpose of environmental protection. The proposed alignment jeopardizes future investments in land preservation."Kornick said PennEast was disappointed in Mercer County's decision to cut off access to the park property, but that it would continue to work with all governmental agencies, including Mercer.Most recently, on Wednesday, the Delaware Riverkeeper Network issued a press release accusing PennEast of illegal test drilling in Holland Township, New Jersey.Maya K. vanRossum, of the Riverkeeper Network, said the company began drilling Monday at a location adjacent to a "natural spring-fed pond located in the flood way of the Delaware River.""It became clear that PennEast was drilling without the necessary DEP Well Permit," vanRossum said in the release. "In addition, as the result of discharges from the drilling operations, the natural pond was becoming cloudy with pollution; investigation has not yet determined exactly what was entering the pond from the drill operations."DEP was contacted, vanRossum noted, but issued an "after the fact permit."PennEast is conducting critical survey work including geotechnical boring, Kornick said, "but only with applicable permits and permissions.""It helps give us an accurate picture of the underlying geology," she said.