Carbon County officials are raising concerns about the proposed PennEast pipeline project.

PennEast plans to construct a 114.5-mile, 36-inch pipeline through Luzerne and Carbon counties, ending in Mercer County, New Jersey.According to documents submitted by PennEast notifying them of the application to the state Department of Environmental Protection, approximately 10 miles of pipeline will go through Kidder Township, 7.6 miles will be in Penn Forest Township, 6.4 miles will be in Towamensing Township and 4.1 miles will be in Lower Towamensing Township.In addition to the underground pipeline, "various associated above-ground facilities" will be constructed along the route, including a compressor station and main block valve in Kidder Township, a main block valve in Towamensing Township and a Blue Mountain interconnect linking the pipeline to UGI Central Penn Gas Inc., according to the documents.On Thursday, the commissioners spoke about a letter from the Carbon County Planning and Development office to DEP and PennEast based on a comprehensive review of the company's general information form as part of the DEP permit application.Earlier this week, the Carbon County Planning Commission outlined its findings, stating that the project "is not consistent with the goals and objectives of the Carbon County Comprehensive Plan and Greenway Plan, and local land use and land development ordinances."Commissioner William O'Gurek said that after reading the planning office's letter on the review, he had some major concerns."This pipeline project has a lot of concern," he said, adding that he feels the company should find a route that affects the least amount of people living in the county.Currently, it is going through areas well populated, as well as lands that are supposed to be protected and in preservations.In New Jersey, the proposed path also goes through Revolutionary War sites and other historical landmarks."The state asks us to adopt a comprehensive plan and greenway plan, and we have a vision of the future regarding the use of the land, and then something like this comes along and flagrantly violates or goes against that plan," O'Gurek said. "It causes me concern. There are some things in this process that just don't sit well with me."The commissioners highlighted the same areas that the planning commission took exception to on Tuesday, including that the company checked yes to zoning approval being received by the townships and no documentation supporting this was attached, as well as no subdivision plans or a list of proposed subdivision plans have been submitted to the planning office for review as per municipalities code requirements.Commissioners' Chairman Wayne Nothstein echoed O'Gurek's thoughts, saying his fear is that the project will try to override the comprehensive plan in place."I don't know if they will have to abide by our rules," he said. "I certainly hope so."Commissioner Thomas J. Gerhard said he is concerned with the environmental impacts."I think municipalities have ordinances for a reason - to protect the environment and to protect the public," he said, noting that he believes the pipeline will go through because the company is backed by very deep pockets financially. "I hope they would choose an alternate route that will impact the environment the least."