On December 4, Mary Stewart Douglas, environmental lawyer and Washington correspondent for the Berkshire Edge spoke to a crowd of local residents and students about the Kinder Morgan natural gas pipeline. The proposed project is complicated and controversial, so Douglass’s presentation helped to explain the pipeline’s history and present state for Berkshire county stakeholders. Audience members and local politicians also contributed their knowledge.
The idea of a pipeline in Massachusetts began after Maine successfully lobbied NESCOE, the New England State Committee on Electricity, to approve a pipeline in the region that would pass through the state in a fifty to one hundred foot corridor. NESCOE subsequently gained the approval of the New England governors for a pipeline that would be owned by Kinder Morgan, the conveyor. Running a proposed route from Richmond to Lowell in Massachusetts, the pipe would carry 2.2 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day.
Those in favor of the project cite concerns about an energy shortfall because of many coal and nuclear power plants closures in Massachusetts. Combined with rising electric rates and lots of demand, a pipeline bringing natural gas to the region could provide a source of cheaper energy to residents. However, critics do not believe that a pipeline is necessary, as environmental groups believe in the possibilities of alternatives rather than investing in such a large-scale, potentially unsafe, and permanent project. Additionally, some or all of the natural gas could be exported so that residents would not even benefit from the infrastructure. Finally, many residents along the route of the pipeline do not want the structure traversing their towns. By last summer, thirty-nine communities along the pipeline route opposed the project with many refusing to give access to Kinder Morgan. As the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission can override these complaints with the power of eminent domain and to usurp state and local law, the desires of Massachusetts residents might be overruled.
In the summer of 2014, Governor Patrick commenced a state-sponsored low-impact assessment for the proposed pipeline, yet by the date of Douglas’s conversation, its future was still uncertain. The newly inaugurated Governor Baker will now be at the forefront of the conflict between environmental groups, industry, residents, and his New England gubernatorial peers, shaping the future of the pipeline and the landscape of the Bay State for years to come.
By Sara Clark ‘15
