Click here for the Kinder Morgan pre-filing  document.

Click here for the link to the FERC site and docket number.

‘Tennessee Gas Pipeline, L.L.C. (TGP), a subsidiary of Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, Inc. proposes the Tennessee Gas Pipeline Northeast Energy Direct Project to upgrade its existing pipeline system in New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Connecticut. This project is a combination of TGP’s proposed (i) Pennsylvania to Wright, NY and (ii) Wright, NY to Dracut, MA projects.’ (see:TGP Northeast Energy Direct Fact Sheet 5-22-14)

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•Kinder Morgan is …..the third largest energy company in North America with a combined enterprise value of approximately $100 billion.(source). It describes itself as ‘A Different Kind of Company’ operating ‘like a giant toll road’ that receives a fee for services.(source)

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•The pipeline would be a high-pressure 30” natural gas transmission pipeline. ‘These wide-diameter, long-distance pipelines transport natural gas from the producing area to market areas.’ (source)

•At this time, a state tariff is being discussed that would pass the cost of this proposed $2.7+ billion project on to Massachusetts residents – ISO NE -Tariff Filings. This is an unprecedented move to request ratepayers to fund a privately-owned company’s infrastructure project. National Grid and other regional energy suppliers have agreed that this strategy should be used. (see:EDC Letter Regional Infrastructure 22 April 2014)

Project overview: The proposed Wright, NY to Dracut, MA with laterals includes:

‍ 45 towns in Massachusetts:

‍ The six lateral lines off of the new mainline route in Massachusetts are:

Nashua Lateral (Pepperell, MA into Hollis, NH)

‍ Worcester Lateral

‍ Pittsfield Lateral

‍ Haverhill Lateral

‍ Fitchburg Lateral Extension

‍ Lynnfield Lateral

Construction will involve:

‍ •approximately 50 miles of co-located pipe on TGP’s system

‍ •construction of 129 miles of greenfield pipeline. ‘Greenfield’ means ‘rather than use existing right-of-ways, it would cross land previously untouched by natural gas infrastructure.’ (source).

•Additional meter stations and compressor stations and modifications to existing facilities in New York, Massachusetts, •Connecticut and New Hampshire. There are at least 2 compressor stations proposed in Massachusetts; planned locations have not yet been disclosed.

•In addition to the northern Greenfield route, the project calls for approximately 13 miles of new pipeline loops along TGP’s 200 •Line system in New York, Massachusetts and Connecticut, and would increase capacity from Tennessee’s existing interconnect with Iroquois Gas Transmission in Wright, New York, to Zone 6 delivery points on Tennessee’s 200 and 300 lines. (source).

‍ •Up to 2.2Bcf/d of natural gas will be delivered to NE and beyond –

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Click here for a Proposed Tennessee Gas Pipeline through Pepperell FAQ

The proposed pipeline is NOT not a local line that will deliver natural gas to your house through a hook-up. It IS a 36″-42″ high-pressure natural gas transmission pipeline that would travel through Pepperell. Originating in upstate New York, it would then travel west to east across Massachusetts, through Ashby and Townsend on the West, through Pepperell, and on to Groton, Dunstable and ultimately on to Dracut. From there it would go to points East and North– Kinder Morgan – Open Season Notice. The proposed 12″-20″ pipeline lateral route that would travel north from Jewett St. up to Hollis/Brookline would intersect the middle of Beaver Brook conservation lands and multiple private properties. It may cut through Woodmont Orchard as well. From there it would travel on to Nashua.

Kinder Morgan has not provided detailed maps to most of the towns affected by this proposal, so approximate routes have been determined from survey request forms requesting access to specific lots. Please see our Maps page for more information.

The Jersey St. Drinking Water Supply Sign - The proposed pipeline would cut through this aquifer

The Jersey St. Drinking Water Supply Sign – The proposed pipeline would cut through this aquifer

The proposed pipeline siting would cross through multiple private properties as well as conservation lands, including multiple wetlands and at least 5 of the town’s drinking water aquifers. It would cross under the Nashua River on the East as well as the Nissitissit River on the North.

(Please note: this is not the only natural gas project being proposed for New England – At the same time that the Kinder Morgan/TGP expansion is being pursued, Spectra Energy is pursuing the ‘Algonquin Incremental Market (AIM) Project’, which would run natural gas from the Appalachian Basin up to New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts. Read more here: Algonquin Incremental Market (AIM) Project and Spectra Comments to NESCOE -February 2014.)

The source of the natural gas is the Marcellus shale in Pennsylvania. For more information on hydro-fracking, fracked gas, and the potential dangers, please see the links below

What is Fracked Gas?

Friends of the Harmed – Shalefield Stories

Environmental Dangers NY

‘Pattern of Rulebreaking’

From Barrons Online, February 22, 2014:

‘…KINDER MORGAN’S CAPITAL EXPENDITURES in its vast pipeline business is another area of debate. Hedgeye’s Kaiser criticized the company in September for sharply cutting sustaining capex on newly purchased pipelines.

Jefferies analyst Sighinolfi has different concerns. “Every company defines maintenance capex differently, but we struggle to understand how KMP can safely operate the largest portfolio of transmission and storage assets in the industry for just a fraction of its peers’ expenditures,” he wrote last year. Comparing Kinder Morgan with Spectra Energy Partners (SEP), another big pipeline operator, he found that Kinder Morgan was spending about half the maintenance capital of Spectra per mile of pipeline. He has a Hold rating on the Kinder Morgan MLP…’

– Barrons Online, February 22, 2014

click images to enlarge

The Jersey St. Drinking Water Supply Sign – The proposed pipeline would cut through this aquifer