Leaders fume over pipeline, energy preparedness
Ahead of a do-it-yourself natural gas pipeline hearing Thursday, Senate President Stanley Rosenberg criticized what he said was a lack of public discussion and preparedness for New England's changing energy demands.
"I think we've been let down by both public and private entities over the last few years, because they saw this coming," Rosenberg told WHMP, a Northampton radio station that broadcasts through the Pioneer Valley. He said, "A lot of work was being done quietly behind the scenes starting, I think, too late, but finally starting. It was done so quietly that the public wasn't engaged and wasn't being made aware of the potential problems we were facing."
A letter obtained by the News Service shows that Republican colleagues in the House share the type of pipeline concerns the Amherst Democrat is encouraging his constituents to give him for submission to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
Cheap domestic natural gas has pushed out older coal and oil plants in New England, putting a strain on the supply of the piped-in and sometimes shipped-in gas that is also used by many for home heating and powering stoves.
A proposed Kinder Morgan pipeline that would run through portions of western Massachusetts is among about four proposals to pipe gas into the region, according to Rosenberg. The Kinder Morgan pipe has generated concern from property owners and environmentalists who predict the infrastructure will mar the area's bucolic landscape.
Five House Republicans oppose Kinder Morgan's pipeline in particular, arguing that building capacity on existing routes would be preferable as the state moves toward cleaner energy sources.
"Massachusetts has existing pipeline infrastructure that we believe can be expanded to adequately provide for the existing need for natural gas energy in the northeast region," House Minority Leader Brad Jones and four of his colleagues wrote to the federal energy regulator on Sept. 3. "However, it is our hope that reliance on natural gas moving forward shall diminish as newer sources of clean renewable energy become more prevalent."
Along with Reps. James Lyons, Leah Cole, Sheila Harrington and Susannah Whipps Lee, Jones praised the Baker administration's move to import hydroelectricity and boost solar, while saying "without reservation, that it is our commitment to work towards making natural gas a minor player in the energy arena of the future."
An aide to Jones confirmed the letter was from the minority leader's office.
The pipeline would enter Massachusetts from New York in the town of Hancock, head up into New Hampshire from the town of Warwick, and then plunge back into Massachusetts in the town of Dracut.
In their letter to Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Secretary Kimberly Bose, the Republican lawmakers said the pipeline would run through private land and conservation land and said the problem of leaks in natural gas infrastructure "must be addressed before we commit to adding new pipelines."
Roughly 90 percent of the planned pipeline would run along existing energy corridors, specifically electricity lines, according to a Kinder Morgan representative.
The view adopted by the Massachusetts Republicans on a Bay State pipeline contrasts with the outlook at the national level taken by Republicans who have pressed the Obama administration to approve a pipeline from Canada to Texas.
Rosenberg said the New England governors and ISO New England, which operates the region's electrical grid, had been in quiet discussions on the changing energy needs, but he said those discussions were not adequately publicized and took place too late.
Gov. Charlie Baker made a similar point on the campaign trail last year, blaming his general election opponent, former Attorney General Martha Coakley, in part for failing to address the growing need for natural gas years before.
Attorney General Maura Healey with support from the Barr Foundation is conducting a study to identify New England's electricity reliability needs, including natural gas capacity. The Baker administration's Department of Public Utilities has approved contracts for Columbia Gas, National Grid and Berkshire Gas Company to purchase space on the pipeline.
Areas of western Massachusetts have limited natural gas supply and Berkshire Gas and Columbia Gas both have a moratorium on new natural gas hookups, according to Rosenberg's office. While Rosenberg has encouraged constituents to share environmental concerns with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, he has also expressed his displeasure at the moratoriums.
"The moratorium is having, and will continue to have, a negative impact on economic growth in the region. I have heard from many indicating that their business and residential projects are stalled because they cannot access the system," Rosenberg wrote Berkshire Gas President Karen Zink in an Aug. 12 letter. "This is deeply troubling, especially in light of the recent recession and its lingering effects."
Rosenberg wrote that even if it receives federal approval the Kinder Morgan project wouldn't be in service until 2018 and commended Berkshire Gas for hiring a consultant to study alternatives.
The Senate president, who organized a public comment hearing in Greenfield Thursday and plans to submit the testimony to the energy regulatory commission, also said his constituents have called on him to take more dramatic actions about the pipeline.
Analysis commissioned by Kinder Morgan estimated that New Englanders could have saved $3.7 billion if the pipeline were in place last winter.
According to the Trustees of Reservation, about a quarter of the route through Massachusetts runs through public and private conservation land, and an 80,000-horsepower pipeline compressor would be built nearby one of its properties where it would be visible and audible.
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