Boston moves to tie up West Roxbury pipeline in court

City lawyers this week moved to delay construction of a proposed high-pressure natural-gas pipeline down Washington and Grove streets by arguing the gas company can't simply start digging a trench without city approval.

The filings, by the city's outside counsel in US District Court, come as West Roxbury and Dedham opponents of the proposed pipeline gear up for a two-community protest this Sunday that will end with people holding hands at the town line on Washington Street.

Algonquin Gas Transmission recently asked a federal judge to let it begin construction of the pipeline on the grounds a federal natural-gas law overrides any local concerns once federal regulators have approved a pipeline, which they have in this case and that it was exercising its right under the eminent-domain part of the law to block the city from blocking it.

But in a filing with the judge, Boston attorneys argue the city Public Improvement Commission never got the chance to negotiate permission for the pipeline with Algonquin, because the company was acting in bad faith and sued even as it was refusing to give a city engineer detailed plans for the pipe, which would run from Westwood to a new facility at Grove and Centre, where the gas would be pumped into National Grid's system.

The city says the commission was willing to exercise its normal procedures for granting permission for the pipeline - which would require a public hearing - says that's vital given the location of existing water, sewer and gas pipes and electric lines under the roads, that a Supreme Court ruling earlier this year held that the federal Natural Gas Act does not give gas companies the right to do whatever the hell they want and that, in any case, the company is seeking easements, which is different from the permissions the commission grants for under-road pipelines.

But Algonquin, the city charges, sent a letter to the city on June 23 demanding it provide the easements the company needed immediately:

Algonquin's "negotiating" strategy was: accept our offer within a week or be sued. And it made good on its threat. That is not good faith negotiaton.