Letter to the Editor: Stop Station 206

Dear Princeton University Administration,

As students who live and work in Princeton, we wish to express our grave concern about the dangers posed by the construction of Compressor Station 206 and the entire Northeast Supply Enhancement Project. This natural gas compressor station and its related infrastructure poses a substantial risk to our own health and safety while providing virtually no benefit to New Jersey residents. 

Williams Transco plans to build Station 206 within five miles from the University in Franklin Township, yet neither a complete environmental impact assessment nor a rigorous health impact assessment of air and water pollution from this compressor station has been performed by federal or state regulators. The draft environmental impact statements released by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) are severely inadequate. They rely only on estimated average emissions figures and modeling provided by the company building the station, instead of accurate, independent measurements from comparable facilities. Additionally, the DEIS only considers the impact of emissions within a quarter mile of proposed facilities, despite multiple peer-reviewed studies that show emissions plumes impact a radius at least five miles from the source.

FERC tests the station’s compliance against outdated standards that do not require measurement of pollutants at their source or account for the air quality impact on days of peak pollution. According to the estimates released by Williams-Transco itself, Compressor Station 206 will emit significant quantities of PM2.5 and various carcinogens, including formaldehyde, benzene, and ammonia, which are widely understood to have adverse health effects on local residents. Despite these reports, FERC still neglected to independently study the health impacts of this project, choosing to allow this project to continue through the approval process without a full understanding of its consequences for the health and safety of our community. 

The misrepresentation of the impact of this project on our air and water quality is troubling, but the risks do not end there. Williams Transco has a history of dodging regulations regarding emissions and safety procedures which has led to multiple fatal accidents in their facilities. Furthermore, the location of this plant is poorly planned: located near a quarry that frequently uses explosives and in a densely wooded area, the risk for a damaging forest fire is very high, and the surrounding townships do not have the resources to contain its spread. This project represents a clear threat to our public safety.

We urge the University to publicly release a statement in opposition to this project and call for an accurate health and environmental impact statement using up-to-date research and taking into account all affected areas. The University should utilize its political leverage to protect the health and safety of its students, employees, and wider community. 

Signed,

Jack Aiello

Seb Benzecry

Allison Huang

Jivahn Moradian

Katie Kubala

Sam Bartusek

Francisca Weirich-Freiberg

Stephen Polcyn

Cecily Polonsky

Charlotte Jeppsen

Narek Galstyan

Amy Amatya

Harry Bound

Arnav Agarwal

Kevin Bradicich

Atakan Baltaci

Isabelle Kuziel

Grace Brightbill

Amanda Eisenhour

Alaa Ragab

Nitasha Siddique

Meagan Raker

Ben Diamond

Nora Aguiar

TJ Smith

Eliana Cohen-Orth

Lydia Gompper

Joseph Ort

Rachel Marcheskie

Kennedy Miller

Nick Badalamenti

Catherine Song

Lucas Makinen

Theo Trevisan

Sebastian Quiroz

Mary DeVellis

Jeremy Nelson

Sofia Pauca

Christine Lu

Hannah Tandy

Lucy Lin

Josh Maccoby

Julius Foo

Mimi Chung

Asia Kaiser

Anhar Karim

Isaac Wolfe

Caroline Bailey

Rebecca Blevins

Jason Kim

Kevin Zou

Melita Piercy

Soyeong Park

Malika Oak

Emily McDonnell

Alexandra Levinger

Geoff Mayan

Dennis Duffin

William Sweeny

Tajreen Ahmed

Ysabel Ayala

Jean Luo

Kayla Memis

Lydia Watt

Michaela Daniel

Olivia Kusio

David FitzPatrick

Maya Eashwaran

Sunita Srivatsan

Nikhita Salgame

Andrew Kaneb

Evelyn Karis 

Aparna Raghu

Morgan Nicolao

Tessa Flanagan

Rebecca Sobel

Sarah Perkins

Sarah Helen Cho

Kyle Barnes

Alya Ahmad

Ethan Katz

Clare Martin

Claire Adair

Jonathan Lu

Sasha Culley

Fumika Mizuno

Nell McKenna

Jared Holeman

Camille Liotine

Nick Callegari

Maddie Wu

Remi Shaull-Thompson

Jill Shah

Christian Flores

Ellie Goodspeed

Lucy Zhang

Elise Colter

Jessica Fielding

Scott Overbey

Meléa Emunah

Nico Cooper

Chris Gliwa

Maggie Baughman

Sultaan Shabazz

Leina Thurn

Kiara Gilbert

Pauline schnelzer 

Edison Lee

Justin Ramos 

Felicia Saravo

Sarah Elkordy

Ben Fasciano

Paul Kopp

Andy Zheng

Devon Wood-Thomas

Jack A. Edmondson

Zhamoyani McMillan

Taylor Bacon

Daniel Bracho

Ona Underwood

Christian Venturella

Victor Guan 

Blaine Crabtree

Joanna Zhang 

William Griffith

Hannah Wang

Alice Wistar

Isaac Velasquez

Thea Zalabak

Andreea Boaca

Bruno Aravena M.

Yowan Ramchoreeter 

Natalie Stein

Anna Leader

Nia McCullin

Katherine Powell

Hudson Loughlin

Sofia Briones

Parker Jones

Peter DeLong

Isabelle Kuziel

Edric Huang

Bozhidar Stankovikj

Gabriela Pitten

Kyle Duffey

Edward Zhang

Patrick Rooney

Daniel Te

Katie Kennedy

Carlos Giron

Alexandra Zalewski

Sam van der Jagt

Jacob Sweetow

MaryAnn Placheril

Myesha Jemison

Joshua Judd Porter

Austin Ferrenti

Priscilla Bushko

Michael Liapin

Hye Jee Kim

Sam Dale

Joice Kim

Delaney Kerkhof

Delaney Thull

Brighie Leach

Rohan Tummala

Traci Mathieu

Lindsey Schmidt

Sophia Winograd

Ysabel Ayala

Theo Keeley-Leclaire

Kennedy Miller

Christiana Esowhode

Sophia Vassallo

Sabarish Sainathan

Kelly Van Baalen

Baran Cimen

Jessica Lawlor

Joshua Tebeau

Catherine Sharp

Nathan Finkle

Peter Schmidt

Regan Barney

Nora Wildberg

Liam Lynch

Sophie Torres

Nicholas Liu

Calvin Rusley

Jonathan Ort

Raya Ward

Melissa Fan

Kristie Falconer

Hannah Slabodkin

Justin Yan

Nancy Kim

Naomi Park

Andrew Wu

Vienna Lunking

Sebastian Witherspoon

Katherine Leggat-Barr

Barbara Gruszka

Arjun Sai Krishnan

Jingwen Guo

Diego Negrón-Reichard

Rhea Braun

Nicholas Kick

Chamari White-Mink

Abby Breitfeld

Sicily Kiesel 

Sage Palmedo

Viraj Deokar

Claire Adair

Sergio Martinez

Eli Berman

Kamila Radjabova

Olivia Foster 

Misako Benso

Emily Reinhold

Richard Peng

Matthew Fastow

Kat Giordano

David Kim

Sally Jiao

Nicholas Yang

Catherina Pan

Sydney Goldman

Carly Bonnet

Miranda Bolef

Tazim Kabir

Harry Fosbinder-Elkins

Benjamin Liang

Autumn Weyant

Emma Ferrandino

Leora Eisenberg

Jackson Vail 

Stephanie Nelson