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Judge OKs new gas pipeline through West Roxbury
By adamg on Fri, 09/11/2015 - 8:12am
A federal judge yesterday gave Algonquin Gas Transmission the OK to dig up Washington and Grove streets for a high-pressure natural-gas main that will end in a new transfer station across from the West Roxbury quarry, Wicked Local West Roxbury reports.
The US District Court judge rejected pleas from the city that the company had to negotiate with the city first; saying federal law gave it the right to start digging because the project has the approval of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
Residents along the route, joined by Mayor Walsh and several city councilors say the pipeline and the "metering and regulating station" across the street from the quarry are a potential menace in a thickly settled area.
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Comments
Oh Danny boy
The pipes the pipes are calling
It's a done deal
Let's move on.
Too much to ask?
Now that the Coakley isn't taking campaign contributions from utilities anymore so can we have a cut in the cost of our natural gas service and electric service from natural gas power plants when this is pipeline complete?
Are you kidding?
You didn't think that gas was for YOU, did you? The KollMorgan pipeline that's supposed to go through western MA and southern NH, goes through a lot of communities that don't even have gas service. Compensation for those communities, zero. Upside, zero.
So
Even after the pipeline is there those communities still wont have access to it?
Nope.
Nope.
Should they expect to?
I can't think of any rural town which has distributed gas- people usually have tanks. If you want to argue that the compensation needs to be different (more than zero BTW) or something fine, but the argument that this is unfair because someone in Ashburnham can't access the pipeline seems bizarre. Would we require local stops on a new railroad being built through rural towns?
Should every town on the MA Pike also have its own exit?
More complicated
It could make sense if they had infrastructure for distribution. As is its like asking whether a community without roads should have a pike exit.
Not for not
But I heard that the communities where the pipeline will be going through will be getting free natural gas.
Okay, I haven't heard that, but I was disappointed that the link you put in after making a point was to Futurama.
*pedantry alert*
I always thought that phrase was "not for naught," as in 'not for nothing.'
(I know you're all shocked that someone is being this pedantic in uhub comments.)
I hang my head
In shame. So much shame that I won't even attempt to change the error.
Regional prices are affected
Regional prices are affected by distribution and supply costs. Increasing the supply available to greater New England will help pricing and eventually availability in MA.
According to whom?
I've heard the industry argument that we'll all have a glorious future of low energy prices if they just let us (insert latest expensive and disruptive infrastructure project). I've never seen it come to fruition, but hey, you keep dreaming. I'll just point out that, as I already said, many of these communities DO NOT HAVE SERVICE, and the gas companies have absolutely no intention of creating the infrastructure to provide it. None, and they will frankly tell you so. Now perhaps you can come up with a good reason why people who will never benefit from a gas pipeline should sacrifice so that it can happen.
Infrastructure follows demand
That's why someone who wants to live in the sticks also doesn't get DSL or FIOS either. The gas company wants to pay some amount per ft per diameter of pipe to landowners to build this, so I don't know why you are claiming there is zero benefit. Maybe it's insufficient, but the reimbursement mechanism exists for landowners.
Sometimes regional infrastructure requirements involve... the whole region. See also, railways, airport traffic, highways, the Quabbin, etc... Until we all live in tubs of goo like the Matrix, we're going to need some stuff which isn't convenient for everyone. The counterargument for me is that things which drive our regional economy, which make it a better place to find quality jobs than most other places in the world, from tech to biotech to universities to hospitals, all require energy to operate and as those industries hopefully grow, we'll need some more capacity to meet that demand, especially if we want to keep the coal plants offline and the nuke plants offline. That's the reality.
Here's a map of the area (PDF)
http://webapps.elpaso.com/PortalUI/DownloadDocs/DART/TGPD/Maps/07221412-...
It shows the northeast lines. By focusing on Massachusetts, you can see the 'lateral' lines for local distribution.
The purple line is Algonquin.
Draw your own conclusions as to how much Mass will benefit. Unless, of course, you manage to get local opposition to 'kill' a lateral.
http://franklin.wickedlocal.com/article/20150827/NEWS/150826610
"The estimated $3 billion project would allow for roughly 1 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day. It would connect to up to 70 percent of New England’s power plants. It's billed as a way to lower electricity rates as early as winter 2018, according to a Spectra Energy fact sheet; that idea isn't without political contention."
I'll also add the many
I'll also add the many working farms the pipeline is proposed to cut through. Some of which supply a substantial amount of "local" food to Boston and it's communities. The burden on emergency services should factor in as well. These pipelines explode with frightening frequency. Now imagine the high tension power lines above, with an above ground 25-50ft diameter high pressure gas line below. These hill towns will really have to step up their gear. At who's cost?
[citation needed]
[citation needed]
This is a pipeline, not a
This is a pipeline, not a public utility. It's used by the energy companies to get the gas from where they produce/mine it to where they sell it onward to utility companies. New England needs more natural gas to break our current dependence on oil, a much more environmentally unfriendly fossil fuel.
You actually think that everywhere a pipeline goes, they should have to install a natural gas utility system for the locals along the route?
This pipeline is only for
This pipeline is only for supplying the local neighborhood, it's not a main supply pipeline that will reduce the cost of gas in the northeast.
Not quite
Unless the companies have been lying all this time, it's to help National Grid improve pressure in its network across a much broader area than just the homes along Grove Street. The thing actually starts in Westwood.
Nope
This is a supply sort of high-pressure pipeline.
Nothing to do with supplying gas to Grove St. or any of the other streets it will be under.
It's not the type of line that supplies houses. Houses along Grove, Centre, etc. already have those gas lines.
Not safe!
I don't think that the residents of Washington St. and Grove St. (neighbors of the actively blasting quarry) should have to live with the increased risk of explosion from 750 psi gas pipeline so that someone somewhere can have lower costs for electricity.
And who do you think will be paying the multibillion dollar cost of the pipeline anyway?
OK then
Don't want the pipeline. First, PROVE that the pipeline will indeed explode if built near the quarry - and "well, it's obvious to us, even though we're not experts in pipeline engineering" is NOT an acceptable response.
Second, provide an ALTERNATIVE plan for routing the pipeline, and demonstrate how that routing is necessary and desirable. And "as long as it doesn't impact my neighborhood" is NOT an accepable reason for rerouting the pipeline. Further, if that plan increases the costs, be prepared to reimburse the pipeline company for those costs.
A lit cigarette at a gas pump
A lit cigarette at a gas pump isn't guaranteed to explode, but one takes the reasonable precaution of not introducing the flame to the volatile agent.
Not putting a high pressure gas line next to an active blasting site exercises the same degree of prudence. Unless you're the federal court.
Time to sell your homes
Time to sell your homes before the value plummets! What a shame. Big money wins and the hardworking average family loses, per usual. Congrats, anti-nimbys!
before fire comes out of the faucets
This will greatly damage the environment. Remember natural gas is created by hydraulic fracking..shooting chemicals into the earth and endangering the aquifers.. If people haven't seen
"GasLand" a documentary narrated by David Brancaccio, It is an important film to see..
You can access it free online at:
http://wdsearch.usrs0.com/look/Gasland_The_Movie_Watch_Online/Gasland__T...
and part 2 is at:
http://www.filmsforaction.org/watch/gasland-part-ii-2013/
Not West Roxbury's problem
I'm not sure if you are familiar with the issue, but they are NOT planning on fracking in West Roxbury. The abbutters are a little concerned with what could happen when a high pressure line runs by their houses, which happen to be located in a blast zone.
In June, the EPA released it
In June, the EPA released it preliminary study of whether fracking pollutes groundwater and found no evidence of widespread systemic pollution of groundwater. This report was extensively covered in the media so just google it to find out more. Don't wait for the movie I don't think EPA is planning to release one soon.
For a few laughs read the NPR coverage.... here's a good quote from their coverage (I added the words in parenthesis).... " it (meaning the EPA study) found no evidence (of groundwater pollution). That doesn't mean it's not happening...."
WE NEED MORE GAS says the
WE NEED MORE GAS says the industry who knows about and has let tons of gas leaks go on for years and doesn't care about fixing them.
B.S.
I hope the people in the potential blast zone at least get some kind of compensation, I can't imagine their homeowner's insurance isn't going to go up.
Call me
old-fashioned but Building Infrastructure is a good thing. I get it that some people get screwed by lower prop values or higher insurance rates, but a whole lot more people would get screwed by not building the road/subway/highway/airport/pipeline/transmission line/power plant than get impacted by its construction. In a perfect world, everyone can have everything without having to take any kind of hit. In the real world, some people benefit sooner than others, and wise public policy is to tilt the balance in favor of the many getting a boost over a few not getting inconvenienced.
Says the guy not having a
Says the guy not having a massive pipeline built across his front yard, or farm, or fragile "protected" conservation land. I won't call you old fashioned. I'll call you ignorant.
Back at you
When you give up all the modern amenities that this building of infrastructure has given us, in protest of all the damage it supposedly does, I'll take your argument seriously.
You're using a computer right now, so I won't hold my breath on any of that.
Oh no! I hope the people
Oh no! I hope the people will prevail over the corporations!
We need you!
Join the fight. We should all be extremely concerned of the negative impacts the NED pipeline will have on this state. www.massplan.org tap the menu for lots of reading material. The promise of cheaper heating bills is a flimsy reason to destroy hundreds of private properties, working farms, and permanently protected conservation land. Please! Oppose this pipeline. Fracked gas has already ruined thousands of lives.
With great urgency
I humbly ask for everyone with any sort of opinion or interest about the proposed Kinder Morgan TGP, please spend sometime browsing this website www.massplan.org
The menu will take the reader to lots of information. I can assure you this is absolutely not a NIMBY debate. This is a serious assult on our state by a for profit corporation using a federal backdoor. This is unprecedented in its nature. I'm not just talking about the Roxbury lateral. Please inform yourselves and others to the grand scope of this project.
A good article on
A good article on Commonwealth Magazine about the need for natural gas in New England.