Tennessee Gas Pipeline (TGP) and its parent company Kinder Morgan (KM) have proposed their Northeast Expansion which includes construction of new natural gas pipeline across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as well as expansion of an existing pipeline in Sandisfield and Agawam.
Here is an excellent white paper: Burden of Proof: The case against the proposed Northeast Energy Direct (NED) fracked gas pipeline.
The new pipeline across the Commonwealth is part of TGP’s Northeast Energy Direct (NED) project. This new pipeline would enter Massachusetts in the town of Richmond, running alongside an existing pipeline in part of that town, and then travel across the state to a natural gas hub in Dracut, Massachusetts. The proposed 129-mile pipeline would cut through 28 towns and cities, would have a diameter of from 30 to 36 inches, and would carry approximately 2.2 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day under a pressure of up to 1,460 pounds per square inch*. The Massachusetts segment is part of Kinder Morgan’s larger Northeast Energy Direct (NED) Project which includes expansion of pipeline capacity in Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Connecticut. The project is proposed to come online in November of 2018.
The expansion in Sandisfield and Agawam is part of TGP’s Connecticut Expansion project. This project includes adding a third pipeline along side two existing pipelines in Sandisfield. The pipes for this project would be stored during construction on a farm field, which is also rare species habitat, in Tyringham. Another part of this expansion will be in Agawam and extend down into Connecticut.
BEAT is watching the environmental review process for both these pipelines very carefully. Here is our attempt to explain the environmental review process and how TGP has attempted to avoid much of the environmental review process for the Connecticut Expansion.
* Pressure figure is from Kinder Morgan representative speaking at public meeting in Richmond, MA.