SANDISFIELD — A gas pipeline project again is raising concerns in this Berkshire County town, as well as in Franklin County, with the expiration of a court-ordered delay preventing work.
The May 8 Berkshire Superior Court decision by Judge John A. Agostini included a “stay” until July 29 for the Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co. Connecticut Expansion Project through 2.3 miles of Otis State Forest. With that delay expired, the company is expected to begin clearing trees for its project.
In anticipation, members of Pipeline Awareness Network for the Northeast and Berkshire Environmental Action Team have notified the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission that because of its appeal of a water-quality certification for the project granted by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, federal and state laws prohibit “authorization of tree-cutting or other activity that will result in the discharge of dredged or fill material” into any water body.
Kathryn Eiseman, president of the network, said, “Otis State Forest has become a flash point for a lot of people. We all want to make sure that the natural resources here are protected, and that DEP and Kinder Morgan follow the letter of the law.”
Members of the Berkshire group, like Eiseman, have expressed concerns about potential impacts on the wetlands and Spectacle Pond, where Agostini’s May 8 order would allow Tennessee Gas Pipeline access to the four-mile pipeline looping route, including the section through the forest.
“I feel like the government is turning a blind eye to the environmental damage you can see from TGP’s existing pipelines here,” said Sandisfield resident Jean Atwater-Williams, who is part of the group appealing the certificate. “On our property alone, their poor maintenance practices have led to invasive species spreading across wetlands. Once they get the go-ahead, I think they do the minimum they can get away with.”
Surveyors for Tennessee Gas Pipeline were seen at Otis State Forest earlier this week, flagging the route and marking boundaries on land that is under protection of the Massachusetts Constitution’s Article 97 before access is given to the company.
“It appears they are pushing the limits,” said Eiseman, who contends that the Department of Conservation and Recreation has not yet issued a construction permit, the Environmental Protection Agency has not issued a National Pollution Discharge Elimination Permit System permit and there are unmet conditions of the Sandisfield Conservation Commission.
Tennessee Gas Pipeline, which received federal certification in March for its 13.42-mile-long Connecticut Expansion Project, has said it needs to begin work on the project as soon as possible to meet its contract obligation with customers to have its pipeline in service this November.
To prevent further delays, the company on Monday called on Agostini to order that as of 12:01 a.m. Saturday, the company “shall have immediate right of entry” on the affected right of way and temporary work space approved by the federal commission “under, upon, across and through the property” for all certified purposes.
The Berkshire County conservation property is miles from where a related Tennessee Gas Pipeline natural gas project had been proposed to run through Hampshire and Franklin counties before it was canceled.
However, Franklin County residents have played a big role in opposing the project here, at a July 16 vigil and by training for upcoming civil disobedience actions, said Eiseman and other project opponents.
“We’re still charged up from experiencing the threat and the horrendous effect the pipeline would have had here, so we feel sympathetic,” said Will Elwell of Ashfield, who oversaw construction of a Thoreau-inspired cabin along the pipeline route through Franklin County that he tried to have moved to Sandisfield. “It’s an attack on our heritage of old-growth trees and conservation land.”
Cate Woolner of Northfield, representing the Sugar Shack Alliance, which has trained more than 250 Franklin, Hampshire and Berkshire County residents in nonviolent protest, along with potential protesters from southern Vermont and New Hampshire, said, “The folks in Sandisfield and surrounding towns are facing the same kind of situation we were here. We’re not concerned not just about that one pipeline here but about fracking, about fossil fuel use, the fact that we have gas leaks all over the place that aren’t being plugged up.”
When opponents walked in March from Windsor to Northfield, “There were folks who showed up and walked with us from Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, eastern Massachusetts, and a number from out of state. We don’t want to be seen, or be, all about ‘NIMBY’ (Not in my Backyard). And that’s why many of us also are showing up in Boston,” where Spectra’s Access Northeast gas pipeline project is under construction.