Gov. LePage urges FERC to move ahead with $5B pipeline project
Maine Gov. Paul LePage has written to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission asking it to “expeditiously move forward” in considering a $5 billion natural gas pipeline expansion in the Northeast.
The Northeast Energy Direct project proposal by the Texas-based energy infrastructure company Kinder Morgan Inc. would pipe natural gas from Pennsylvania’s Marcellus shale into New York and New England. As part of the project, a new pipeline would be constructed through Pennsylvania, New York, New Hampshire and Massachusetts, according to the Bangor Daily News.
New England’s dependence on natural gas for generating electricity is at the core of the proposal. During times of peak load, the region doesn’t have the pipeline infrastructure to serve demand, according to the BDN.
“We cannot afford inaction or delay on New England pipeline proposals, and it is critical that these projects move forward as quickly as possible,” LePage wrote in his letter to FERC.
The project has drawn opposition from environmental groups in addition to many state and local lawmakers, who are concerned about the fracking used to obtain natural gas from Marcellus shale. N.H. Gov. Maggie Hassan, who wrote to FERC in December, urged the commission to weigh all of the possible options before moving ahead.
“I again encourage FERC to carefully consider whether the potential negative impacts of the project would disproportionately outweigh the benefits, particularly for the New Hampshire residents and communities that would bear the burden of hosting the project,” Hassan wrote in a letter to regulators.
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