Eversource presents revised gas pipeline plan as protesters raise climate concerns

SPRINGFIELD – In the center of Stearns Square on Thursday afternoon, “Mr. Eversource” gleefully clutches a long tube prop posing as Eversource’s proposed gas pipeline from Longmeadow to Springfield. At least 30 audience members, dressed in red, boo and yell at the mustache-twirling caricature, played by Tim Holcombs.

Each of the other players of Springfield Climate Justice Coalition’s street theater performance lobby their objections and concerns at the robber baron figure, who fumbles over his answers to questions about the pipeline’s effect on climate change, air pollution and public safety of environmental justice communities.

“We want to grow up in a world where every kid has clean air, every kid has the right to a healthy future and a livable planet,” Soraya Smit read from her script. “Another gas cap line will make climate change even worse. Is that the future that you want us to inherit?”

An hour later, the demonstrators echoed these comments to Eversource employees at a Thursday open house for the Western Massachusetts Natural Gas Reliability Project. The $85 million project proposes a 5.3-mile, 16-inch diameter natural gas pipeline, an additional point of delivery station in Longmeadow and improvement to the Bliss Street Station to reduce risks of collisions with nearby trains and cars. The line would serve as a back-up in case service in the current gas line is disrupted.

The project was first proposed in 2017 by Columbia Gas and rejected two years ago by the state, which demanded revisions. Thursday’s meeting was the utility’s first public hearing on the revised gas line plan.

“This is the single largest natural gas line for a very large number of customers in the entire state of Massachusetts, that doesn’t have a backup,” Eversource spokesperson Jamie Ratliff said. “So if something were to happen to this line, say, in the middle of winter, 53,000 customers, that’s about 200,000 people, could be without natural gas in the middle of winter for up to two months. That, to us, is absolutely unacceptable.”

Ratliff and Eversource Project Manager Ryan Barnes both say the proposed pipeline project, if approved by the state, would strengthen the current 70-year-old natural gas system that services Agawam, Southwick, West Springfield, Chicopee and Springfield.

Critics of the controversial project, however, view it as a pipeline expansion in disguise.

“This pipeline won’t protect our energy supply. It won’t do us any good at all. It will just make you more money at our expense,” Springfield Climate Justice Coalition Organizer Naia Tenerowicz said in the skit.

The new point of delivery, located at Longmeadow Country Club, will siphon gas from the Tennessee gas pipeline. After, it will travel north underground and join the current system at Bliss Street Station in Springfield, which Barnes said is in the process of moving underground to improve safety.

Action from the north

Despite the project leaving Hampshire County infrastructure untouched, many attendees of the protest travelled south to Hampden County to protest further investment in natural gas.

Amherst resident and Co-Op Power member Barbara Pearson is a proponent of solar energy and offers alternatives to what she describes as “Neversource.” Mary Jane Else often travels from South Hadley to Springfield to stand with city activists. She advocates for brisk phase out of natural gas. Richard Purcell, who is running for City Council in Holyoke, expressed his stance against all gas projects in the western Massachusetts area, but particularly cities.

“So Eversource has said before that this project will not increase emissions, but everybody knows that regulator stations like Bliss Street and the proposed new one in Longmeadow vent raw methane as a matter of standard operating procedure,” said Susan Theberge, Climate Action Now Western Mass Steering Community member and Amherst resident. “In a time of climate emergency, when we’re literally burning our home, we want to know how much that’s going to increase methane [emissions].”

Barnes said that the station’s maintenance emissions equate to about two cars a year. However, gas leaks are already common in Springfield. Barnes admitted that there are active gas leaks in the city’s infrastructure, but could not say how many.

Eversource is bringing back the Western Massachusetts Natural Gas Reliability Project some two years after Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Rebecca Tepper rejected the idea, ruling that the project does not comply with the Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act. Tepper mandated Eversource consider more renewable energy alternatives and conduct more “meaningful” public outreach before resubmitting their plans. That led to Thursday’s open house at the UMass Amherst Henry M. Thomas III Center.

Both the Springfield City Council and Longmeadow Select Board voted against the project in the early years of its proposal.

Since the last public discussion of the project three years ago, the cost of the pipeline has risen from $65 million to $85 million. Barnes cites rising material and consturction prices as the reason behind the increase, but assures rate payers that monthly bills will only rise 1%, or $1.25 a month.

Teniel Rhiney, environmental justice organizer with ARISE, and her daughter Soraya Smit already navigate the negative health impacts from Springfield’s poor air quality. They both want Eversource to drop the project in favor of cleaner alternatives that will better the health of their residents.

“Since I had asthma when I was younger and didn’t really feel comfortable breathing a lot of the time when I was at school, I wanted to help out,” Smit said. “I know that these pipelines are not not going to make the air better.”

Eversource will need to submit a supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Report to the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs that considered Tepper’s comments before it can move into the 18-month construction phase. The project route will also need approval from the Energy Facilities Siting Board before Eversource can begin applying for municipal permits.