New England Doesn’t Need More Natural Gas Pipeleines

MA needs no additional natural gas pipeline capacity to satisfy its power needs through 2030, according to a study released Wednesday by the state’s Attorney General.

The study’s stated objective was to determine whether the region is facing electric reliability challenges through 2030, and identify the most cost-effective and clean solutions for addressing any challenges.

“And so the main takeaway is that subsidizing overbuilt natural gas pipelines is a risky gamble for ratepayers when compared to the alternatives”, Shattuck says, “and really the least risky option and the best deal for ratepayers is to continue to allow these market reforms to play out and invest in alternatives that will reduce over reliance on gas and be aligned with our greenhouse gas reduction goals”.

Healey, who serves as ratepayer advocate in MA, has been no friend to pipeline expansion plans in MA.

Healey filed the study with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in its review of Kinder Morgan’s plans to build a gas pipeline across parts of MA and New Hampshire.

A hypothetical pipeline that carries 500 million cubic feet of gas into New England per day could reduce prices that gas-burning power generators pay for their fuel, the study said, lowering the cost of the electricity they generate.

Four pipeline projects have been proposed to increase the supply of natural gas into the region and help address the high cost of electricity in the state. In June she urged caution in evaluating such proposals, and in September charged that the state’s Department of Public Utilities “expedited” firm transportation agreements between Tennessee Gas Pipeline and three local natural gas utilities, and said the state board failed to conduct a “factual analysis of future demand”.

“Adding more gas pipeline infrastructure to a region already over-reliant on natural gas defies economic sense, environmental sense and common sense”, said Bradley Campbell, president of the Conservation Law Foundation. This report includes information from The Associated Press.

Also on Wednesday, the New England Coalition for Affordable Energy criticized Healey’s study, saying it “appears to have a clear and compelling blind spot” in its focus on grid reliability.

Environmentalists, pipeline opponents, and domestic power plants that oppose importing Canadian hydropower hailed the study’s findings.

The New England region, for the past two winters, has spent about $7 billion more for electricity than other regions of the country that have easier access to natural gas, the company said.

The regulations, which Healey said she will file with the Secretary of State’s office on Friday, will be the subject of a January 12 public hearing.