Withdrawal of Natural Gas pipeline update (5/23/2016)
On April 22, 2016, Tennessee Gas Pipeline Company filed a letter with FERC indicating that: "As a result of inadequate capacity commitments from prospective customers and a determination that the Project is uneconomic, Kinder Morgan, Inc., Tennessee's parent company, announced on April 20, 2016 that the company would suspend further work and expenditures on the Project." Then, on May 23, 2016, Tennessee Gas Pipeline Company filed a letter withdrawing its application. AVIS is pleased that it Nat Smith Reservation as well as other conservation land and private homeowners are no longer threatened by this pipeline. AVIS tried to provide information to the public about this project and thanks all those who wrote letters and/or attended meetings.
Kinder Morgan proposed Natural Gas Pipeline Application (3/26/2016)
- The MA Department of Public Utilities is holding a hearing at Andover High School on April 14, 2016, at 7:00 pm. These hearings will help DPU determine whether Kinder Morgan can have access to properties for surveying where the owner has denied permission. These surveys can include heavy trucks accessing the property, removal or trimming of trees, and doing borings to determine soil and subsurface conditions. Please plan to attend to voice your opinion.
- Motions to Intervene were filed before 1/6/16 - AVIS, The Town of Andover, and affected property owners have filed to be Intervenors.
- Kinder Morgan filed their official proposal on 11/20/15 to have their subsidiary, Tennessee Gas Pipeline company, build a 30" pipeline from Wright, NY, to Dracut, MA, and a 24" pipeline (the Lynnfield Lateral) from Dracut through Andover and other eastern MA communities to Danvers, MA.
- This pipeline directly affects the AVIS Nat Smith Reservation and 5 other Town conservation properties as well as over 100 home owners on the Andover Tewksbury border. It will go through many wetlands, under the Merrimack River, and under the Shawsheen River.
- FERC, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, accepted their application on 12/7/15.
- The posting in the Federal Register was on 12/11/15.
- KM has asked for a decision by the 4th quarter of 2016. If so, FERC will need to do a draft EIS by mid June? At one point FERC said they would take at least one year to do a DEIS, so we will see.
- Once the EIS is out there will be more scoping sessions to obtain public input - FERC has continued to say that they allow the market to decide which pipelines succeed (which means - as long as NED has customers in the form of Local Distribution Companies they are not likely to deny KM's request to built this pipeline).
- KM has about 40% of the properties surveyed; they need 100% before they can start.
- Eminent Domain will allow them to do the other surveys-Eminent Domain does not determine route just the price of a taking.
- Note that the docket is now CP16-21.
- An article in the 12/15/15 business section of the Boston Globe talks about KM reducing dividends so they can afford the capital outlay for the NED pipeline. The reporter, like many before him, still says the pipeline goes "...through Southern New Hampshire and Western Massachusetts." The media often ignore the Laterals in eastern MA which affect many, many people in densely populated areas.
Previous Information
"As of December 8, 2014, Kinder Morgan has revised the route of this pipeline. There was a major change in the main line from NY to Dracut that moves a large piece of it through New Hampshire. They also made a change to the Lynnfield Lateral that passed through Andover. The lateral no longer goes through any AVIS reservations. It also now avoids the Town water supply at Fish Brook and the Wood Hill and High Plain schools. The proposal is to enter Andover near the power lines at the Franciscan Center on River Road and generally to follow the Andover/Tewksbury border to Wilmington. This route could be changed at any time so AVIS Trustees will continue to monitor this project and will continue to work with the Town on it." The revised map from Kinder Morgan is available at: http://andoverma.gov/projects/tenngas/altroute111714.pdf
Video of Andover's Forum on the pipeline held at the Wood Hill Middle School on November 13, 2014. This forum was sponsored by the Town Conservation Commission and AVIS and co-hosted by Dan Kolowski, chair of the Board of Selectman and John Hess, vice president of AVIS.
http://andovertv.org/PipelineInfoForum_20141113.mp4
Also here are the playback times on live TV:
Andover public channel Comcast 8 Verizon 47
Mondays 9pm, Wednesdays 2pm, Fridays 8:30 am
Andover Government channel Comcast 22 Verizon 45
Tuesdays 9am, Saturdays 9 am
Massachusetts DOER low demand study — information for stakeholders; final stakeholder meeting December 18th
Massplan fact sheet "The Real Story Behind utility rate hikes”
http://www.massplan.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Rate-Hikes-Handout-10-24-14.pdf
CLF article by Shanna Cleveland: "3 Things No One is Telling You About
Rising Energy Costs"
http://www.clf.org/blog/clean-energy-climate-change/3-things-one-telling-rising-energy-costs/
One page facts sheet:
http://www.massplan.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/CongressionaHandout-9-28.pdf
Half page handout telling people what they can do in protest:
http://www.nofrackedgasinmass.org/notgp/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Pipeline-HALFpager.pdf
Directions on how to register with FERC (including the proper docket
numbers):
http://www.nofrackedgasinmass.org/ferc-info/
FERC website for Docket Number is PF14-22:
http://www.FERC.gov
Massachusetts State website of energy and environmental affairs:
http://www.mass.gov/eea/
Excellent 6 minute video summarizing the basics
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ir68-csA8lY&feature=youtu.be
Video on Colocation with a power line corridor:
WMECO transmission power line corridor
For more details, this 29 minute video that is easy to understand and
shows why a new large pipeline is a bad idea
The Next Generation: From Pipelines to Propaganda-Putting the ‘Best’
Energy Policies to Work
Guests: Massachusetts State Senator James ‘Jamie’ Eldridge, Vice-Chair
of the Senate Committee on Global Warming and
Climate Change, and Member of the Joint Committee on
Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy; Jim O’Reilly,
Director of Public Policy at Northeast Energy Efficiency Partnerships
(NEEP)
http://www.thelegaledition.com/shows
Nashoba Conservation Trust - A land group with informational links and
resources:
www.nashobatrust.org/pipeline/
About our state global warming solutions act
http://www.mass.gov/eea/air-water-climate-change/climate-change/massachusetts-global-warming-solutions-act/
State sponsored study on need for additional infrastructure
http://synapse-energy.com/project/massachusetts-low-demand-analysis
News
http://theberkshireedge.com/anatomy-pipeline-decision-scheme-dubious-legality/
http://www.lowellsun.com/todaysheadlines/ci_26949059/voices-raised-stop-gas-pipeline
http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/regionals/north/2014/11/15/the-argument-should-local-communities-support-plans-tennessee-gas-pipeline-expand-its-
natural-gas-transmission-pipeline-northeast/ImrYoxBeeu7q6ZBCINu0bI/story.html
http://boston.cbslocal.com/2014/11/15/protesters-rally-in-fitchburg-against-proposed-pipeline/
Pepperell's Community TV channel has quite a few pipeline videos including a 128 minute one on the 11/15/14 State Summit
http://www.pepperellchannel.org/VOD.html
Groups opposing the pipeline across Massachusetts
http://www.nofrackedgasinmass.org
http://www.massplan.org
Facts and figures about the pipeline
http://stopned.org/resources
http://grotonspace.com/pipeline/
Northern Middlesex Council of Governments
http://www.nmcog.org/Gas/Pipeline/Information.htm
Contact local officials to lobby them:
http://www.lwv-andovers.org/ContactOfficials.html
New York opposition Group with a lot of good information
http://www.stopthepipeline.org/
Landowner Information
http://www.nofrackedgasinmass.org/landowner-resources/
and
http://nashobatrust.org/eminent-domainferc/
Interesting analysis of how we got where we are and what to do about it by Dennis Eklof September 8, 2014
http://tinyurl.com/KMEnergyDirectPresentation
Alternatives:
Energy Consumption charts with possible alternatives
http://www.toxicsaction.org/problems-and-solutions/energy
Fossil fuels should be phased out by 2100 says IPCC
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-29855884
Pipeline safety:
List of all pipeline explosions in the United States. Read the ones for natural gas.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_pipeline_accidents#United_States
The Pipeline Safety Trust promotes pipeline safety through education
and advocacy, increased access to information, and partnerships with
residents, safety advocates, government, and industry, resulting in
safer communities and a healthier environment.
http://pstrust.org/
National Pipeline Mapping System
https://www.npms.phmsa.dot.gov/PublicViewer/index.jsp
Pro pipeline group:
Coaliton to Lower Energy Costs (CLEC)
Blog from the Conservation Law Foundation
http://www.clf.org/blog/clean-energy-climate-change/clec-looking-wallet/
Boston Globe
http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2014/10/24/business-group-forms-push-for-pipelines/rom6vVY11G4uArmzUs5HcI/story.html