Should We Be Forced to Pay for New Gas Pipelines?

On February 25, the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities is holding a hearing about whether or not Eversource customers should be forced to pay for the giant Access Northeast pipeline project.

We need to stand up and speak out. We should not be forced to pay for polluting new pipelines we don't need!

350 Mass will be doing a street action starting at 1:30 pm outside South Station (the Department of Public Utilities is located above the train station at 1 South Station, Boston). We will hold a large banner that says: "Big Sneaky Pipeline Meeting Happening Here," sing songs and hand out leaflets to get some public awareness.

We'll then attend the hearing, which starts at 2:00 pm and will probably go for a few hours.

No need to pre-register to testify; sign-up on arrival.
Please dress in professional attire.
Bring ID.
Here's some draft background information and possible talking points for folks who want to pre-write their testimony. We'll be sending around sample testimony and finalized talking points this week. We'll also have talking points available there for those who just want to show up and testify. For feedback on your testimony, feel free to email your draft to [email protected].
We'll have small signs for folks to hold in the hearing room, although they may be taken away.

Shea Riester ([email protected]; 857-756-3730) will be bottom-lining for 350 Mass on the day of, so feel free to email, call or text if you have any questions!

Showing 2 reactions

Good Will Triumph commented 2016-02-25 08:27:11 -0500
Ratepayers absolutely SHOULD NOT foot the bill for any new fossil fuel infrastructure. It is unneeded and contributes to climate change. We need to continue to move toward renewables. In addition, the energy companies make BILLIONS OF DOLLARS and should NOT BE allowed to pass along ANY costs to ratepayers through National Grid, or any other delivery company with whom they are complicit.
Gina Rosati commented 2016-02-24 21:23:39 -0500
It sets a dangerous precedent to force ratepayers to pay the $3 billion for the infrastructure for Access Northeast. Kinder Morgan is also lobbying heavily in NH for New Englanders to pay for their proposed $3,3 billion pipeline, Northeast Energy Direct (and that’s just the market path from Wright NY to Dracut MA. NED’s supply path is another $1.7 billion). New Englanders could be stuck paying for $6.3 billion or more worth of pipelines that would be used to carry gas from the Marcellus Shale fields to Dracut, where .8bcf/day of that gas would be piped through the Maritimes & Northeast pipe to be exported to the Bear Head LNG and Pieradae Energy LNG facilities, then sent overseas. New England doesn’t need more pipelines. If the Boston area would fix its leaky pipes, it would solve a lot of problems, both with greenhouse gas and energy conservation.