Third Circuit pauses interstate gas pipeline over shoddy environmental review

A Third Circuit panel vacated New Jersey's water quality certification for the Transco pipeline extension, finding the state agency approved dredging through Raritan Bay without requiring monitoring plans be reviewed before construction and without adequately explaining why toxic sediment disturbance wouldn't violate water standards.

The agency had rejected nearly identical Transco applications in 2019 and 2020, then approved a third submission in November 2025 containing largely the same information. The court found the agency deferred material compliance questions to post-approval plans it wasn't even required to review.

Judge Jane Roth, writing for the panel, said the agency's contaminant review covered only 500 feet around dredging sites and made unsupported claims about shellfish safety. The case now returns to the New Jersey agency, which can revise, resubmit, or try yet again.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.