Today is our 19th wedding anniversary and I’m fairly certain that we talked about nothing else other than the pipeline. Such is life in 2015. That pisses me off like you cannot believe.

Here is the latest:

This past Thursday, PennEast formally applied to FERC (Federal Energy Regulatory Commission) for their pipeline project. Even though they’ve only surveyed 30% of the affected properties in NJ, they’re obviously cocky enough to think it is sufficient to proceed ahead.

And you know what? Precedent would indicate that they are probably right. FERC has NEVER turned down a pipeline application and as we’ve quickly learned, their role is not as overseer, but as hand holder to the pipeline companies. It is infuriating considering we have all collectively written 3000+ intelligent and valid comments to our “government” yet there is zero confidence that it won’t all fall on deaf ears.

I spent a good part of Thursday and Friday pouring through the formal application. Not a fun read; Fifty Shades it is not. I’ll spare you the painful details (for now), but here are a few gems that are borderline hilarious:

“The proposed Project route has been designed to minimize direct impacts to residences.”

“This one-time upfront payment will increase the property owner’s disposable income.”

“Several historical and recent studies indicate that construction of natural gas pipelines does not adversely affect the values of the properties proximate to the pipelines.”

“Therefore, the Project is not expected to impact underlying property values.”

How do they have the cojones to say all that? “Disposable income” with a “one time” payment. Seriously? They would be “leasing” my property for years to come to line their pockets but would not pay us going forward.

No affect on property values? You stupid SOB’s, you don’t think that is due to the fact that people can’t sell at all? Who wants to buy a house with 36″ pipeline buried in the yard? I could punch you all.

But what set us off more than anything else was this find, a map of our individual residence buried within the bullshit report.

Allow me to elaborate.

• The pipeline (solid black line) would be 93′ from our house.
• It does not account for our 16 ft deck (guess you missed it on Google Earth you f’ers) so let’s reduce that to 77′.
• 25′ on each side of the pipeline becomes the permanent easement.
• The construction zone will start around 2′ off of the deck. You heard that right. That would mean this would be gone.

• 50′ from each side of the easement and to the left our home is the construction zone. All trees, plants, creatures contained within would be cleared from those areas.
• There is a good chance my well and septic will be within the construction zone.

We’ve been told all along that the construction zone would be 100′ and da da, it is now doubled to 200′. How fun. I’m sure it isn’t indicative of what is to come.

To pour it on real thick, here are some photos of my backyard as a reference:

Moving on.

Having said all that, we are still fighting are asses off. The anger of reading the application and all its cute little stories only fuels the fire in a big way.

On Friday night we attended an impromptu rally initiated only 24 hours prior. There was a terrific turn out and those driving by seemed to on board as well.

Fun fact #1, we are in the kill zone.

Fun fact #2, that guy holding the sign is the esteemed Dr. Tullis Onstott of Princeton University. Read the hyperlink and tell me it doesn’t piss you off.

What we are learning is that “action” keeps your mind off of things and sitting still only adds to the anxiety. If we could attend a rally or meeting on a daily basis we would do it in a heartbeat.

On to Saturday.

After softball in the morning (a nice distraction) …

… we hit up Milford Alive where pipeline non-supporter, congressman Leonard Lance, spoke and made it a point to visit the Stop PennEast booth. We’ll see where it goes from here, but  having him on our side can only help.

Today, in an effort to get out and clear our heads, we finally made a trip out to Mad Lavender Farm. My wife made the discovery via Facebook and we had vowed to get there before the end of the season. Plus, I have failed at growing lavender like a champ so I was curious to see how it is all done.

The farm is tucked back off a local road in Milford, NJ (Hunterdon County) and we were greeted by the owners, two of the friendliest people you could ever meet. We received a personal tour and education on the farm’s operations.

My personal fave was the raised bed of Lavender ‘Phenomenal’.

After being schooled on the soil that they used and how they winter protect the crop, I am determined to give it a whirl myself. We fell in love with the place and look forward to many return visits, hopefully including a fully dedicated blog post.

So with all the anger and fear this potential pipeline has brought about, we’ve also made so many new friends and discovered more about our special region than we could have ever imagined. It is uniting us in the love of our land and of each other.

PennEast should be worried.

One last story.

When we were at the lavender farm, one of the owners mentioned that they had recently rejuvenated a number of apple trees on their property. Each of the trees was loaded with apples and it was all done organically. While there was some pruning and clean up involved, the owner ultimately gave credit to one thing and one thing only …

The bees they added to the farm.

Life Lesson – don’t fuck with the land.