UpDate on Kinder Morgan Pipeline

Update on Proposed Kinder Morgan Pipeline

I've received lots of feedback from constituents regarding the Kinder Morgan pipeline - a new project proposed to move natural gas across New Hampshire - so I wanted to send you an update on where the approval and planning process currently stands and how you can get involved. I share many of your concerns regarding the pipeline, thus I also want to share with you some of the steps I've been taking to ensure your voices are heard as the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) considers the project. 
New Hampshire must pursue smart energy policies that both protect our environment and lower costs for Granite State families and businesses. As a Member of Congress, it is my role to help Granite Staters get involved in the decision-making process on the federal level whenever a new energy project is proposed in the state, so we can ensure these goals are met. Your concerns and suggestions should influence every step of the approval and planning process for the proposed Kinder Morgan pipeline, and I've taken a number of steps to amplify your voices and ensure your thoughts are heard and reflected in the federal review process. Click here to read more about my advocacy work.  

While FERC will have the final say on whether the pipeline moves forward, Granite Staters must be a part of the decision. That's why I'm writing to let you know about additional ways you can influence FERC's decision-making process:  

FERC Coming to NH this Week

FERC will be holding three preliminary scoping meetings in New Hampshire, two this week and another meeting that has not yet been scheduled. These meetings are extremely important, as they will provide the public with an opportunity to make formal, on-the-record comments directly to FERC staff.  I strongly encourage all constituents to get engaged in the process and attend your closest scoping meeting.  FERC-run scoping meetings will be held on the following dates and times: 

Nashua Radisson, 11 Tara Blvd, Nashua, NH 03062
Wednesday, July 29th at 6:30PM

Milford Town Hall, One Union Square, Milford, NH 03055
Thursday, July 30th at 6:30PM

Winchester, NH
Date, Time and Location TBA 

Because FERC is the agency ultimately responsible for approving or rejecting the proposed pipeline, I strongly encourage you to participate in FERC's scoping process by contacting FERC directly. Even if you cannot attend a scoping meeting, you can share your thoughts with FERC here, or by sending a letter to the address below: 

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
888 First Street, NE
Washington, DC 20426
  
I remain eager to hear your thoughts on the Kinder Morgan pipeline, and I will continue to relay your questions and concerns to FERC. If you’d like to share your thoughts with me, you can submit a comment on the pipeline here, or email me at a new email address I've created specifically for folks with comments for me about New Hampshire energy projects: NH.Energy@Mail.House.Gov. I look forward to hearing from you soon! 

Thank you for everything you do to make the Granite State such a wonderful place to live.
                                 
                                  

Washington, DC Office 137 Cannon HOB Washington, DC 20515 Phone: (202) 225-5206

Concord, NH Office 18 N. Main St., 4th Floor Concord, NH 03301 Phone: (603) 226-1002

Nashua, NH Office 70 East Pearl Street Nashua, NH 03060 Phone: (603) 595-2006

North Country Office 33 Main St. Suite 202 Littleton, NH 03561 Phone: (603) 444-7700

Fitzwilliam and Troy officials confront regional planning commission about pipeline proposal

So where were Winchester's Officials?

By Meghan Foley Sentinel Staff

 

FITZWILLIAM — Officials from two towns want to know where the regional planning commission has been during the past few months, as residents, organizations and local governments scramble to educate themselves about a controversial pipeline project.
Fitzwilliam selectmen told the commission’s executive director during the board’s meeting Monday night the organization hasn’t provided the kind of accurate and neutral information residents and municipal boards need to understand the pros and cons of the Northeast Energy Direct pipeline project proposed by Kinder Morgan. Members of the Fitzwilliam and Troy conservation commissions and the Fitzwilliam Planning Board, who were all in attendance, echoed selectmen’s concerns. Fitzwilliam selectmen asked members of the regional commission to attend.

The Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co. LLC, a Kinder Morgan company, is proposing to build a pipeline to carry natural gas from shale gas fields in Pennsylvania through upstate New York, part of northern Massachusetts and into southern New Hampshire before going to a distribution hub in eastern Massachusetts.

The proposed Northeast Energy Direct pipeline would cross 71 miles of southern New Hampshire, including the Monadnock Region towns of Fitzwilliam, Richmond, Rindge, Troy and Winchester.

Southwest Region Planning Commission officials said they’ve been gathering information and working on maps following a request from AECOM, a company hired by Kinder Morgan, for documents and reports about natural resources, wildlife, aquifers, conservation lands, topography and other features along the proposed pipeline route.

But that work takes time, and represents the equivalent of a full-time position, Timothy P. Murphy, executive director of the commission, said.

He added that town officials with questions, concerns and suggestions should always feel free to contact the commission, and up until the Monday meeting, hadn’t heard from any communities directly affected by the pipeline.

In addition, when the commission received the request from AECOM, it went to its member towns first to make sure this was what they wanted the commission to do, he said. By doing so, the gathering of information didn’t start right away, he said.

“We didn’t want to start on this if it was against the wishes of the communities,” Murphy said.

Commission officials also wanted to make sure AECOM was going to pay them for the work, Murphy said.

He said in a phone interview Wednesday he believes AECOM is paying the commission about $5,000.

Commission officials have been, and are continuing to make any information they have about the project available, including on a web page that has been up on the organization’s website for the past four to six months, he said Wednesday.

Since then, residents and officials in some towns have gone farther in their research than commission officials have been able to go, he said.

Southwest Region Planning Commission covers Cheshire County and parts of Hillsborough and Sullivan counties.

The communities in the commission’s coverage area where the pipeline is proposed to travel through are Winchester, Richmond, Fitzwilliam, Troy, Rindge, New Ipswich, Temple and Greenville.

Murphy said Wednesday the planning commission hasn’t before dealt with the process involved in vetting and approving an interstate natural gas transmission pipeline project, and it doesn’t want to approach the matter “haphazardly.”

“We’re trying to find our way in this process to be as effective as we can within resources,” he said.

However, Murphy’s answers at the Monday meeting weren’t good enough for Fitzwilliam and Troy officials. They put Murphy and two other representatives from the commission on the spot, asking why the commission’s website didn’t have the depth and breadth of information about the project that was available from the Nashua Regional Planning Commission.

“My request would be for Southwest to do better,” Fitzwilliam Selectman Susan S. Silverman said. “There needs to be more information made available to people.”

In trying to understand the project, its benefits and its ramifications, people often have only two extremes to look at when trying to find information, she said.

The planning commission needs to be a place where neutral information about the project and natural gas transmission pipelines can be made available, she said.

“Often, people are operating with less than perfect information,” she said. “This has a lot of layers and facets, and I think a good place to find that information would be your website.”

She added,” We’re not asking you to take a position on the pipeline. We’re asking for information to be shared.”

The Nashua Regional Planning Commission website has a tab for “hot projects” that includes the pipeline. Clicking on that link brings viewers to a page chock full of project information that includes an overview; links to project documents, background about pipelines and local news articles; maps of the areas in the pipeline’s proposed path; information for property owners; and links to state and federal agencies involved in the project’s approval process.

 http://www.nashuarpc.org/hot-projects/project-pipeline/
 

In contrast, a link from Southwest Region Planning Commission’s website brings one to a page with a map of the proposed route, a project overview, summaries of the state and federal review processes for the project, and information links for Kinder Morgan, the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission, the N.H. Site Evaluation Committee, and the U.S. Department of Transportation Hazardous Material Safety Administration.

  http://www.swrpc.org/pipeline

Marianne Salcetti, chairwoman of the Troy Conservation Commission, suggested the Southwest Region Planning Commission host some kind of meeting with residents in all the towns affected by the proposed pipeline.

“We’re heading into the scoping phase, and that’s huge,” she said.

In addition, Liberty Utilities is talking about running a cost and benefit analysis of building a “lateral to serve the Keene Division,” which could result in more towns being affected by the project, she said.

Liberty Utilities is a subsidiary of Algonquin Power and Utilities Corp., which is a partner with Kinder Morgan in the pipeline construction. Liberty Utilities signed an agreement with Kinder Morgan last year to transport natural gas to its customers on the Northeast Energy Direct pipeline.

Fitzwilliam Selectmen Chairwoman Nancy W. Carney said she knows gathering information about the project is a long process, and the Southwest Region Planning Commission works with other communities not in the pipeline’s path. However, this project is a big deal for the region, she said, and should be treated as such.

Carney is also the town’s fire chief.

“We look at you, and you have the people, knowledge and ability to do things,” she said. “Towns our size don’t have the ability to produce what you can.”

Meghan Foley can be reached at 352-1234, extension 1436, or mfoley@keenesentinel.com. Follow her on Twitter @MFoleyKS.

Kinder Morgan reroutes pipeline path in Winchester

By Meghan Foley Sentinel Staff

 

WINCHESTER — A controversial natural gas pipeline is no longer proposed to go through the town’s drinking water aquifer, but the Pulpit Falls and Pulpit Rock property remain in its path.
And that has prompted town officials to allow representatives involved with the pipeline’s development to tour the site, under supervision.

Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co. officials met with Winchester selectmen and conservation commission members Wednesday afternoon to unveil a new preferred route for the pipeline through the town of roughly 4,300 people.

The Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co. LLC, a Kinder Morgan company, is proposing to build a pipeline to carry natural gas from shale gas fields in Pennsylvania through upstate New York, part of northern Massachusetts and into southern New Hampshire before going to a distribution hub in eastern Massachusetts.

The proposed Northeast Energy Direct pipeline would cross 71 miles of southern New Hampshire, including the Monadnock Region towns of Fitzwilliam, Richmond, Rindge, Troy and Winchester.

Mike Lennon, land agent for Tennessee Gas Pipeline, said the plan is to have the pipeline travel south of the aquifer and wellhead protection area instead of through it.

The new route would have the pipeline leave from Eversource’s electric transmission lines just north of Pulpit Falls and Pulpit Rock, according to preliminary maps provided by Tennessee Gas Pipeline officials at the meeting. The pipeline would cross Tipping Rock Road, and roughly five private properties, heading east before reaching Warwick Road. It would continue east before taking a sharp turn north just after crossing Scotland Road. It would then cross Pudding Hill Road as it continues north.

“At this point, we’re just here to update you, start dialogue, and see if there are other areas of concern,” Lennon said to selectmen and conversation commission members.

The previous plan to run the pipeline through the aquifer concerned the community, and the new preferred route takes that into consideration, he said.

“This is by no means a final route,” he said.

Lennon presented Winchester selectmen and conservation commission members with what he described as “preliminary and crude” maps of the new proposed route that were based on town tax maps and Google Maps.

“We will begin the process of developing updated mapping and starting a dialogue with those property owners on the route south of the aquifer,” he said.

Conservation commission member Benjamin Kilanski asked how many properties would be affected by the new preferred route, and how many, now, would not be.

Lennon said about 17 properties along the previous preferred would no longer be affected, but roughly 17 new properties would be.

“But this is all preliminary,” he said.

Based on the preliminary maps, some of the newly affected properties are owned by Daniel H. Kennedy and Claude F. Kidwell, both on Tipping Rock Road; Arthur D. Leigh off Curtis Road; Nelson J. Murray Trustee; Virginia Morgan Trust at 539 Warwick Road; Hugh E. and George R. McGovern on Warwick Road; Spaulding 2012 Revocable and Warren H. Spaulding, both on Scotland Road; Robert A. Briggs, Jason R. Cardinale and Virginia M. Parker, all on Scotland Road; and the Rev. Cynthia Ryder Trust on Pudding Hill Road.

Conservation commission member Bonnie Leveille asked what will happen to the previous preferred route now that there is a new one being proposed.

Lennon said the old route remains on the table as an alternative.

Selectmen Chairwoman Roberta A. Fraser said while the new route deviates from the aquifer, she is still concerned because it’s going through Pulpit Falls and Pulpit Rock.

“The board has taken a stand that we don’t want the pipeline in town. We’re following the wishes of citizens at town meeting,” she said. “Pulpit Falls is as much of a concern as the aquifer, if the pipeline does come through town.”

Pulpit Falls and Pulpit Rock are on town-owned land that has a conservation restriction saying that the site “forever be held as a nature preserve or conservation area for scientific, education and/or aesthetic purposes.” Only fences, foot trails and property maintenance activities are allowed, the deed says.

The restriction was written into the deed for the roughly 30 acre property between Routes 10 (Manning Hill Road) and 78 (Warwick Road) as part of the town purchasing it from Amy M. St. Clair in 2008.

Kinder Morgan and Tennessee Gas Pipeline officials said they hadn’t set foot on the property at the wishes of town officials who said surveying isn’t allowed under the conservation restriction.

That will now change after the conservation commission voted Wednesday to allow company officials to “walk through” the property.

The 4-1 vote with one abstention came after town officials tried to communicate to Tennessee Gas Pipeline representatives the importance of having the pipeline avoid the area.

“I can tell by the way you’re describing it, you’ve never been there,” conservation commission member John H. Hann said. “You really need to see it to understand.”

Hann and Fraser will accompany the Tennessee Gas Pipeline and Kinder Morgan officials during the visit to the site.

Meghan Foley can be reached at 352-1234, extension 1436, or mfoley@keenesentinel.com. Follow her on Twitter @MFoleyKS.

How is this protecting and preserving?

I live within short walking distance from the proposed New Ipswich site of the 80,000-plus hp compressor station planned by Tennessee Gas/Kinder Morgan for the 36-inch-diameter pressurized gas pipeline through Southern New Hampshire.
Those so close to, but not subject to, eminent domain will receive no compensation from Tennessee Gas/Kinder Morgan yet our properties and homes have already become worthless in the marketplace from the pure intent of the pipeline. How is it that a private company is allowed to destroy the values of our properties, upset our peace and quiet, slaughter the rural landscape we have paid to maintain, and place us the circle of destruction by way of explosion, fire, toxic gases, poisoned water, noise pollution, high impact vibrations and terrorist threat?

I need the fair and whole market value of my home to fund my retirement. I am 64 years old and cannot re-do my life to regain the financial loss I now face.

Can we do the same to those people who have crafted this scheme upon us?

I cannot host a noisy party without being cited. I cannot scatter a toxic mix of poisons across the land, water and air without criminal prosecution. I cannot build something that is subject to a massive explosion with such intense thermal radiation impact that it incinerates everything it its path over great distances.

I cannot use my property to even raise swine as it is deemed detrimental to the value of my neighbor’s property.

Who has issued such powers of ruin to other human beings to a private corporation with the singular private interest of making huge profits?

Energy companies are some of the richest on the planet. Who gave them license to not only strip us financially, but to also put so many people in harm’s way whenever they choose to do so?

Who is responsible for these travesties of justice? Why are we answering to this call? Why aren’t legislators and regulatory commissions being tasked with these responsibilities?

Isn’t that the purpose of government to protect and preserve?

Evelyn Taylor

New Ipswich

More to pipeline plan than meets eye

Do you live in a town that will not be hosting the Kinder Morgan-Tennessee Gas Pipeline project and think it won’t affect you?
Think again.

Kinder-Morgan, a multi-billion dollar company founded by Enron executives, has petitioned to impose tariffs on electricity bills to finance its project. The fourth largest energy company in the country, already subsidized by your tax dollars, wants you to pony up more money for their profit.

New Hampshire is an exporter of energy to New England. The infrastructure in place has been running below 2008 levels for years. In order to manipulate prices, these companies pretend that there isn’t enough gas to meet demand.

The product flowing through these pipes is not the clean, green energy everyone thinks of when they hear “natural gas.” This gas will be full of toxic substances used during fracking.

The “natural” gas industry has become the primary emitter of greenhouse gases in the country. These pipelines, and the compressors needed to push gas along the pipe, leak. They spew thousands of tons of chemicals into the environment, polluting watersheds, wells, soil, animal forage and the air you breathe.

It will cause chronic health issues for thousands of people. Maybe one of those people will be someone you love. I hope not.

Kinder-Morgan employs public relations workers in New Hampshire to advise it on changing their corporate image. The company has paid out massive amounts in fines, millions of dollars, for violations of federal and state regulations, but one well-placed ad, one donation to a school, or a politician’s event and that is forgotten.

Is that why we haven’t heard the voices of our elected officials denouncing this project?

Wake up, New Hampshire. If this is approved, more will be coming. Add your voice to those fighting this corporate Goliath.

Julie Erb

Hillsboro

Kinder Morgan gains important victory in pipeline project

Posted: Wednesday, July 1, 2015 12:00 pm

By Sentinel Staff

If it smells like fish...

The state’s Public Utilities Commission staff gave the proposed Kinder Morgan natural gas pipeline project a key boost Friday. They gave the thumbs-up to a contract that would allow Liberty Utilities to buy space on the proposed pipeline, called the Northeast Energy Direct line, that would run through southern New Hampshire, including five local towns.
The state’s oversight panel is now one step closer to approving the contract between Liberty Utilities, the state’s largest natural gas distributor, and Kinder Morgan, according to an article in today’s Union Leader of Manchester.

Next up is a formal vote by the three-member commission, which will come after a public hearing July 22. But the endorsement by commission staff is an important victory for proponents of the pipeline.

Opponents told the Union Leader they plan to contest the agreement at the July 22 hearing.

Members of the Pipeline Awareness Network (PLAN) argue the agreement came despite testimony from the PUC’s expert witness and consumer advocate strongly recommending against the plan.

Ultimately, the final decision will be made by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, whose five members were appointed by President Barack Obama.

Pamela Young-Allen, the federal commission’s spokeswoman, told The Sentinel last month that the commission will evaluate the possible environmental impact of the pipeline — and whether alternatives exist — before issuing a draft environmental impact statement that will be available for public comment. A final statement will then go to the commission.

Young-Allen also told The Sentinel that the federal regulatory commissioners rarely recommend against a project.

The state’s role, through the Public Utilities Commission, is to determine whether Liberty Utilities is warranted in looking to the Northeast Energy Direct pipeline for gas for its customers. Thus, Friday’s approval by the PUC’s members is an important victory for Kinder Morgan.

It comes despite testimony by the PUC’s own consultant, Melissa Whitten, who said in May that the deal would leave Liberty with “substantial excess capacity that it would not completely absorb or grow into over the life of the contract,” the Union Leader reported. And assistant consumer advocate Pradip K. Chattopadhyay testified the deal should not be approved because it’s not in the best interests of Liberty’s customers.

Consumer Advocate Susan Chamberlin said she didn’t know why the PUC staff came to conclusions that seem to contradict testimony by its own experts. “I can’t explain the discrepancy,” she told the Union Leader.

The agreement between Kinder Morgan and Liberty Utilities was first announced in November.

The proposed pipeline would extend from Pennsylvania to Dracut, Mass., where it would connect with a pipeline to Canada. It would cross through five local towns along the way: Fitzwilliam, Richmond, Rindge, Troy and Winchester.