pipeline ROUTE.pdf

By Ella Nilsen Sentinel Staff
| Posted: Tuesday, December 9, 2014 12:00 pm

A 70-mile path across southern New Hampshire is now a company’s preferred route for a pipeline that would carry natural gas from Pennsylvania to New England.

Houston-based natural gas company Kinder Morgan filed an amended resource report for its Northeast Energy Direct project with the Federal Regulatory Energy Commission Monday. The filing contains some changes and more details on the route the company intends to take through southern New Hampshire.

The Federal Regulatory Commission must approve the project, which would expand the pipeline network of Kinder Morgan subsidiary Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co.

If the regulatory commission grants Kinder Morgan the necessary permits, the company said it intends to start construction in 2017 and finish in 20 months.

According to Monday’s filing, several towns in Cheshire County — Troy, Rindge, Fitzwilliam, Winchester and Richmond — would be included on the pipeline route.

William T. Matson, chairman of the Troy board of selectmen, said Monday afternoon that town officials had received one letter from Kinder Morgan about the project, but had not yet received official notice the town would be included on the pipeline route.

“We were hoping we’d be avoided,” Matson said.

Nine towns in Hillsborough County and two in Rockingham County are also on the route.

The length of the pipeline across the Granite State is 70.6 miles, but the pipeline will also include two lateral extensions from New Hampshire to Fitchburg and Haverhill, Mass., bringing the total to 77.69 miles.

The pipeline would enter New Hampshire through Winchester and exit through Pelham, where it would cross back into Massachusetts in the town of Dracut, according to company filings.

Filings also detail the total miles of pipeline to be put in each town: 5.57 in Winchester, 6.14 in Richmond, 1.59 in Troy, 6.75 in Fitzwilliam and 8.9 in Rindge.

Another Kinder Morgan filing has amended numbers for how many wetlands, rivers and forests would be affected. In November, the company reported the pipeline route would cross 155 wetlands and 116 bodies of water, including 18 major rivers. It also reported the pipeline would cross about 8 miles of state forest or parks.

Now, those numbers have been amended to 76 wetlands and 66 bodies of water crossed, including 42 major rivers, as well as 31 miles of state forest and 6.46 miles of state parks.

The amended filings contain information for how Kinder Morgan digs trenches for pipelines, as well as details on how it plans to operate the pipeline.

In a letter to the federal commission, Kinder Morgan said the reason it is pursuing a pipeline in New Hampshire is that a large portion of the pipe would be “located adjacent to, and parallel with, existing utility corridors” in the state.

The letter also acknowledged the opposition to the project in Massachusetts.

“Through its significant outreach efforts for the Project, Tennessee has been attentive to the public response to the Project,” the letter said. “This proposed route modification … is intended to address comments and concerns expressed by affected stakeholders across various regions of the project.”

Some natural gas distributors in New England have already signed onto the pipeline project, including Liberty Utilities, the largest natural gas distributor in New Hampshire. That company recently announced an agreement to purchase enough gas from the pipeline to heat 65,000 residential homes on the coldest day of winter.

In New Hampshire, opposition to the project is already gaining ground.

Rindge has taken steps to block the pipeline. At a meeting last week, residents urged selectmen to take action, and board members responded by unanimously voting to not allow Kinder Morgan representatives to survey town land, until residents vote on the matter at March town meeting.

Town officials and residents were supposed to meet with Kinder Morgan officials today, but the meeting has been postponed due to the impending storm and has not been rescheduled.

Richmond town officials will announce their meeting date with Kinder Morgan officials later this week, and Winchester and Fitzwilliam town officials said they will be meeting with company officials after Jan. 1.

____________________________________________________

 Local communities to hold meetings about Kinder Morgan pipeline

By Ella Nilsen Sentinel Staff | Posted: Tuesday, December 9, 2014 12:00 pm

*Fitzwilliam town officials plan to hold a multi-town meeting to discuss the potential Kinder Morgan natural gas pipeline next week.

Town administrator Paula W. Thompson said Fitzwilliam selectmen will invite selectmen and conservation commission members from surrounding towns to the meeting. Local state representatives are also invited, Thompson said.

The meeting will take place on Monday, Dec. 15, at 6 p.m. at the Fitzwilliam Town Hall.

*The Rindge meeting with Kinder Morgan officials that was supposed to take place today at 2:30 p.m. has been postponed due to weather. A new date has not yet been rescheduled, but will be posted on the town website and Facebook page, according to town officials.

*Environmental group 350 New Hampshire will hold a meeting about the pipeline in Mason on Saturday, Dec. 13, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. at the Mason Elementary School.

_______________________________________

Kinder Morgan says NH pipeline route is now ‘preferred’

By Ella Nilsen Sentinel Staff | Posted: Monday, December 8, 2014 9:20 pm

Houston-based energy company Kinder Morgan has southern New Hampshire its preferred route for an approximately 77-mile natural gas pipeline.

The company filed an amended resource report with the Federal Regulatory Energy Commission this afternoon that provides some more details on the route the company intends to take through southern New Hampshire if the commission approves the plan.

According to the filing, one additional town in Cheshire County — Troy — will be included on the pipeline route. The other towns include Rindge, Fitzwilliam, Winchester and Richmond.

Kinder Morgan’s amended filing includes some new details about the pipeline, including new numbers of wetlands, rivers and state land the pipeline would cross.

If the company is granted the necessary permits by the Federal Regulatory Energy Commission, it said it intends to start construction in 2017 and finish in 20 months.