A long road lies ahead for pipeline plan:
In the months since energy company Kinder Morgan announced it would be shifting its proposed pipeline route north through southern New Hampshire to avoid parts of Massachusetts, some local anti-pipeline activists have placed their emphasis on understanding — and stymieing — the federal approval process.
With slogans like “get the FERC out of Rindge,” local residents
concerned about the impact the proposed pipeline will have on their
neighborhoods, conserved land and property rates have focused on the
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the agency that ultimately will
give federal approval or disapproval for the project.
Martha Shanahan can be reached at 352-1234, extension 1434, or mshanahan@keenesentinel.com. Follow her on Twitter @MShanahanKS.
But before FERC’s five commissioners make a final decision, a long road lies ahead.
Kinder Morgan and
Tennessee Gas, the subsidiary building the Northeast Energy Direct
pipeline, remains in what FERC calls the pre-filing stage, during which
it has held public meetings and sent surveyors to assess the land the
pipeline will cross.
Before it can officially file it must first hold a series of so-called scoping meetings in towns along the route.
New Hampshire’s U.S.
congressional delegation wrote a joint letter to FERC in April asking
that the company hold scoping meetings with any towns that request them
and that they cooperate with the towns in scheduling them.
Once those meetings are
held, and if enough deals are finalized with the power companies along
the pipeline route that have promised to buy gas from the companies, the
company plans to file its official application for FERC approval in
September, according to documents it filed with FERC.
Then, according to FERC
spokeswoman Pamela Young-Allen, the commission’s staff will evaluate the
possible environmental impact of the pipeline — and whether there are
any alternatives — before issuing a draft environmental impact
statement, which the public will be able to comment on. A final
statement will then go to the commission.
Staff members rarely recommend against a project, Young-Allen said.
The commission’s five
members — all Obama administration appointees — will then read the
environmental impact statement and issue a decision on the project.
While the agency doesn’t
keep statistics on how many projects the commission approves or
declines, Young-Allen said, a “no” answer from the commission is also
rare.
Any person or entity who
filed after the initial application as an “intervenor,” or a party that
would be affected by the pipeline, can appeal the decision, Young-Allen
said.
“When the commission
issues its order on the project, the intervenors — and only the
intervenors — can seek rehearing or an appeal of the commission’s
decision,” she said.
But before September,
Kinder Morgan must first try to show show it is meeting actual demand in
the states the pipeline will cross. Companies in the states between the
Pennsylvania shale fields and the proposed Dracut, Mass. terminus —
where the gas will connect with a pipeline to Canada — have already
signed on to sell the gas to their customers.
The state’s role
The N.H. Public Utilities
Commission is charged with determining whether Liberty Utilities is
warranted in looking to the Northeast Energy Direct pipeline for gas for
its customers.
In New Hampshire, Liberty
Utilities has emerged as the only company willing to enter into a
contract with Kinder Morgan for the gas, and opponents, such as the
nonprofit corporation Pipeline Awareness Network for the Northeast
(PLAN), are aiming at that contract as the battle before the FERC war.
“We’ve all been hearing
FERC is where all the decisions get made,” PLAN’s president, Kathryn R.
Eiseman, said. “But states have an enormous amount of power.”
PLAN combined two
Massachusetts and New Hampshire groups joined to form the regional
organization, Eisemen, who is also the director of the Massachusetts
group, said.
Eiseman said PLAN has
hired a Boston attorney who focuses on energy issues to help the group
file, giving it the opportunity to testify at hearings on the deal.
Eiseman did not say which municipalities or organizations are members of PLAN.
But several local towns,
including Fitzwilliam, Greenville, Richmond and Troy, have joined
another group, the N.H. Municipal Pipeline Coalition, to join together,
some signing on as an intervenor in the Liberty Utilities deal.
In a letter to Gov.
Maggie Hassan last month, the 13 towns called the pipeline unnecessary
and “an insult to conservation efforts of the state, municipalities and
conservation easement holders given the existence of better
alternatives.”
Susan Silverman,
chairwoman of the Fitzwilliam Board of Selectmen, said her town filed
with the Public Utilities Commission as an intervenor in hopes of
convincing commissioners that the pipeline is unnecessary.
She said she doesn’t yet know if the town will file to participate in the FERC application this fall as an intervenor.
“There’s a lot of ground
to cover before that,” she said. “We try to take it one step at a time.
... what comes out of the (Public Utility Commission) will dictate what
we do.”
The commission’s decision
could be the last time New Hampshire officials can make a decision
affecting the future of the pipeline in New Hampshire.
The project won’t need a
input from the N.H. Legislature, and local zoning requirements are
unlikely to stand in the way of Kinder Morgan’s path once federal
approval is granted.
“There isn’t a simple process,” Silverman said. “It would be nice if there was.”
Even if the Liberty
contract is stymied, FERC could still go ahead with its application in
September, and still get FERC approval.
Eiseman said she’s
waiting to see what happens at the state level before her group starts
to tackle the federal regulation process.
“When it gets to
September, we’ll see whether Kinder Morgan has any contracts approved,”
she said. “Everyone is very happy to show them the door.”
