AMHERST — After nearly 18 months of businesses, homeowners and developers losing access to natural gas, Amherst officials will make a formal push to get Berkshire Gas to lift its moratorium.
The Select Board Monday voted to pursue so-called intervenor status through the state’s Department of Public Utilities, which would give the town a voice in the ongoing proceedings in which the natural gas provider is seeking approval of its 241-page, five-year forecast and supply plan.
Meanwhile, area legislators Tuesday also filed to become formal intervenors so they, too, can directly engage Berkshire Gas.
“We need to work with Berkshire Gas and the Department of Public Utilities to find a solution to the moratorium as quickly as possible,” said Senate President Stanley Rosenberg, D-Amherst.
The utility’s two-year-old block on new or expanded natural gas service affects Amherst, Hadley and Hatfield, as well as the Franklin County towns of Deerfield, Sunderland, Whately, Montague and Greenfield.
In addition to Rosenberg, other members of the Franklin-Hampshire delegation seeking to become intervenors are Reps. Peter Kocot, D-Northampton, Stephen Kulik, D-Worthington, John Scibak, D-South Hadley, Ellen Story, D-Amherst and Paul Mark, D-Peru.
“I am pleased that the entire legislative delegation for the eight towns negatively affected by the Berkshire Gas moratorium … is working together to give our constituents a stronger voice in DPU’s review,” Kulik said.
In Amherst, pursuit of intervenor status has support from both the Amherst Area Chamber of Commerce, which made the formal request to the board, and the Amherst Business Improvement District.
Peter Vickery, chairman of the chamber’s government affairs committee, said restaurants have been unable to open and expand due to the moratorium. There has also been a not-yet-quantified impact on commercial and residential development.
“What I can’t tell you about is the lost opportunities and who are the would-be business owners who looked at Amherst and said ‘we can’t open because of the moratorium,’” Vickery said.
Berkshire Gas implemented the moratorium in late March 2015 and has kept it in place even after the planned Northeast Energy Direct pipeline was scrapped earlier this year by Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co., reportedly because of lack of demand.
Rosenberg has been meeting regularly with Berkshire Gas to develop an alternative plan to serve the region, and he and other lawmakers began biweekly conversations with the utility to make sure it was developing a plan to end the moratorium as soon as possible.
If granted intervenor status, the legislators will gain access to the detailed information that the company submits to the DPU regulators.
Vickery said there is hope that the moratorium can be lifted and that the state’s public utilities department will work with Berkshire Gas for a roadmap for clear, prompt steps to allow new and expanded connections to the natural gas supply to resume.
The chamber, Vickery said, is not asking the town to take any position on whether the existing natural gas infrastructure should be enlarged.
If intervenor status is granted, the town’s testimony, which will be focused on ending the moratorium as soon as possible, will be granted extra weight, Vickery said.
While Amherst had been invited to join the towns of Montague and Deerfield in their pursuit of intervenor status, BID Executive Director Sarah la Cour said it makes sense for Amherst to go it alone. Other communities had issues related to new pipeline construction, which had been planned through several Franklin County towns, that Amherst was not facing.
“This way we can have control over our message and testimony and the specific areas we need Berkshire Gas to address in Amherst,” la Cour said.
La Cour said she is aware of some businesses that had been Berkshire Gas customers and lost access to natural gas during renovation and expansion projects, as well as new construction, and had to turn to propane tanks.
Ariel Elan, pipeline liaison for Montague, said in an email he sees no problem with Amherst seeking intervenor status on its own.
“It will be interesting to see what happens as multiple communities challenge Berkshire Gas to come up with a specific and timely solution to restore the services the company has curtailed,” he added.
A DPU hearing to receive comments on the natural gas company’s forecast and supply plan will be held at Greenfield Middle School at 7 p.m. Aug. 30.
Material from The Recorder was used in this report.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.
