Bemis Road is located in the northwest corner of Pepperell, near the New Hampshire border. The first ¾ of the road is residential and very quiet, since the road ends at one of the town’s drinking water supply aquifers.

According to a Department of Environmental Protection Source Water Assessment and Protection (SWAP) Report, “The Bemis Road well is a gravel packed well located off of Bemis Road, in the northwestern corner of Pepperell” of moderate susceptibility. This is in part due to the fact that the well is “…located in an aquifer with a high vulnerability to contamination due to the absence of hydrogeologic barriers (i.e. clay) that can prevent contaminant migration.”

Last winter some Bemis Road residents began receiving requests to access their land for the pipeline route survey. At the same time, the town received requests to access land in the Bemis Rd. protected water supply area, since it is also part of the area where the proposed natural gas pipeline would run.

Two of the property owners in the path of the proposed Tennessee Gas pipeline are neighbors.

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The proposed route would have the pipeline crossing the yard and driveway of one neighbor. It would then run approximately 150 yards up next to their driveway and would cross into the other neighbor’s land, pass right next to their house and continue into the Bemis Rd. drinking water aquifer.

The width between the driveway and house of these neighbors is 77 feet. The typical easement width during pipeline construction is 100-125 feet, with a 50 foot permanent easement remaining.

The neighbors have refused to sign for access to their properties. They have since received the Kinder Morgan follow-up letter stating that if they do not cooperate, KM/TGP may go the MA DPU and petition for access to their properties.

You can read more about these neighbors in the Pepperell Free Press article here.