MONTAGUE — The town of Montague will approach the Department of Public Utilities to attempt to end the Berkshire Gas moratorium.
Montague intervened in a proposed Berkshire Gas contact earlier this year, which suggested the company buy gas from a pipeline to service eight communities in the Pioneer Valley. The pipeline idea failed months ago, and Monday night the Montague Select Board voted to press Berkshire Gas to find another solution.
“There are other ways to get supply into this region,” Chairman Rich Kuklewicz said during the meeting. “It’s in the town’s best interest to see this moratorium ended as soon as possible.”
To end the moratorium, the town is applying for intervenor status in a review of Berkshire Gas’ five year supply plan — a bi-annual report predicting the company’s costs and products for the coming years. As an intervenor, town officials will compile evidence to present to the Department of Public Utilities (DPU), which could force Berkshire Gas to halt the moratorium. It will also have the legal right to present testimony and cross-examine Berkshire Gas’ witnesses.
Although Berkshire Gas officials say the utility couldn’t service the area without the pipeline, it has the resources to consider other options, said Ariel Elan, Montague pipeline liaison. Additionally, the company’s argument is strange, considering it only would have drawn 3 percent of the proposed pipeline’s supply, Elan said.
“There are different ways to increase supply to this area that Berkshire itself had reviewed in the past,” Elan said. “They made a corporate decision not to do those things but instead to put all their eggs in one basket.”
In the previous intervention, Montague called John Rosenkranz, an environmental consultant who specializes in pipeline development and natural gas planning, to evaluate the proposal and moratorium.
In his testimony, Rosenkranz said the moratorium was never necessary, and could be ended in one to two years if Berkshire Gas made infrastructure upgrades. This testimony was never evaluated by the DPU because the pipeline proposal failed before it had the chance to do so.
Berkshire Gas’ failure to pursue alternatives poses questions about whether it is more concerned with the potential economic benefits of the pipeline rather than the supply issue, Kuklewicz said.
“There is a legitimate business question of whether Berkshire Gas is waiting around until economic conditions become favorable for another major transmission line that will deliver most of its gas to the coast for export,” Kuklewicz said.
At a hearing at Greenfield Middle School, the public can offer its comments on the moratorium to the DPU. The hearing will take place Aug. 30 at 7 p.m.
“It is important for many reasons that every person, municipality and organization with something to say about Berkshire Gas’ relationship weigh in at the Aug. 30 hearing, especially to let all of our public officials know where we stand,” Elan said.
The DPU will consider Montague’s request for intervenor status, and should do so sometime in the next few weeks, said town administrator Frank Abbondanzio. If it does, it could offer an important opportunity for the town and the DPU to get on the same page.
“We want to try to make sure we’re not overlooking alternatives to the moratorium that might be affordable — ones that maybe Berkshire Gas are not considering — and get the DPU in sync with that thinking,” Abbondanzio said.
Chris Farrell, spokesman for Berkshire Gas, said the town is welcome to weigh in on Berkshire’s upcoming supply plan, but that the plan is not solely concerned with the moratorium.
“The purpose of the filing is to review the company’s forecast and resources planning processes,” Farrell said. “The town of Montague is certainly welcome to join the process. We are very interested in any input.”