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June 26, 2015

Environmental groups scoff at pipeline report

Environmentalists are questioning the findings of a study funded by a Kinder Morgan subsidiary that found jobs and energy savings would accrue from a pipeline the company hopes to build.

In a study funded by Tennessee Gas Pipeline, a subsidiary of Kinder Morgan, the Beacon Hill Institute found the proposed infrastructure would create energy savings of up to $204 annually for families and $25,415 on average at industrial businesses.

"All the report says is their infrastructure will create jobs and increase our energy supply. In fact, every new energy infrastructure creates jobs and increases our energy supply . . . wind, solar, hydro. What’s the point?" Environmental League of Massachusetts President George Bachrach wrote in an email. He said, "Frankly, we think it’s pretty outrageous for the 'Institute' to be fronting for a self-serving, Kinder Morgan funded report."

The proposed pipeline would bring Pennsylvanian natural gas into New Hampshire and Massachusetts, where winter energy demands for heat and electricity have created price spikes in recent years.

About a quarter of the route in Massachusetts runs through public and private conservation land, said The Trustees of Reservation Director of Policy Jennifer Ryan, calling that a "big concern." She said the pipeline would run through one of the group's properties in Windsor and an 80,000-horsepower compressor would be built nearby where it would be visible and audible from the Trustees' property.

The Trustees maintain scenic properties around the state that are open to the public.

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