Rutgers AAUP-AFT, the labor union of full-time faculty and graduate workers at Rutgers University, opposes the transport of liquified natural gas (LNG) through New Jersey and Pennsylvania in the strongest possible terms.
Trains and trucks carrying LNG would impose intolerable risks on Camden, Philadelphia, Gibbstown, and much of southern New Jersey. Indeed, the proposed transport corridor represents the worst of environmental injustice, burdening already-marginalized communities of color while enriching only the New Fortress Energy corporation. In addressing the climate emergency, this investment in LNG will take New Jersey and the United States backwards, prolonging our dependence on fossil fuels. President Trump instituted the LNG-by-rail rule. We urge the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration to revoke the rule and thereby ban LNG trains throughout the country.
In short, there is no place for this means of moving methane in a sustainable or just world. Rutgers AAUP-AFT joins with community and environmental groups—and encourages our sibling labor unions to do the same—in opposing LNG trains everywhere.