Boston — Kinder Morgan and subsidiary Tennessee Gas Pipeline Company this week lost its appeal to remove a July 29 stay, a court -imposed waiting period that would prevent the natural gas corporation from clearing three miles of Otis State Forest in the town of Sandisfield until that date.
According to the Massachusetts Appeals Court clerk’s office, Justice Joseph Trainor denied Tennessee Gas’ appeal of only the waiting period imposed by Berkshire Superior Court Judge John A. Agostini in his May 9 ruling. Agostini said while the company had the right to an easement, it could not begin work until July 29, after the Legislature had weighed in on the matter.
Chloe Gotsis, spokesperson for Attorney General Maura Healey, told the Edge Healey’s office is happy with Justice Trainor’s ruling, and in an previous statement had said the office was initially “pleased the judge [Agostini] stayed his order until July 29, recognizing the critical role of the Legislature in determining the status of conservation land and allowing time for the legislative process to run its course.”
The company has been in court since early spring to gain immediate access to clear 3.83 miles of land in Sandisfield for its Connecticut Expansion Project, a 13-mile storage loop to hold gas for distribution to Connecticut customers. The project requires cutting trees near an old growth forest to widen an existing pipeline corridor that is now owned by the state and protected by its Constitution under Article 97.
Healey’s office filed an opposition to Tennessee Gas’ appeal, and had earlier fought the company in court over its attempt to begin clearing land immediately, saying it must consider the state’s ownership of conservation land and damage to the forest ecosystem. Agostini ruled in May that while the company has right to the land under federal laws granting eminent domain for pipelines, it had to wait to being its work until July 29, the end of the state’s Legislative session. Easements on Article 97 land require a two-thirds vote there.
Rep. William “Smitty” Pignatelli (D-Lenox) has worked with Sandisfield officials to help the town, population 800, deal with the impact of a construction project involving 25-36 inch diameter pipes carried by large trucks on its already rough roads — among other worries about the town’s infrastructure.
“It’s a small victory,” Pignatelli told the Edge, “but one that gives us more time to delay the cutting of trees, expecting and requiring the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to make sure all permits are in place before anything gets done, and holding the town harmless.”
Both Pignatelli and Sandisfield Town Manager Alice Boyd have told the Edge that Kinder Morgan is “reneging” on an agreement with the town, still unsigned, that among other things, the company would give the town $1,085,000 to mitigate wear and tear or damage to the town’s infrastructure. Kinder Morgan is also not keeping its word to reimburse the town for $30,000 in legal fees spent negotiating with Kinder Morgan attorneys. Pignatelli said he had forwarded both documents to the Attorney General’s Office and to Sen. Elizabeth Warren.
Pignatelli said his “crusade” now is to protect Sandisfield, since Agostini’s ruling made it clear that “the state can’t block federal law.”
He is also “more convinced” that “sadly,” a vote by the Legislature “doesn’t mean as much as we intended originally, or thought it would.”
Pignatelli said Sandisfield isn’t the only one that’s been duped by the Fortune 500 Corporation. Rep. Peter Kocot (D-Northampton), who is Chairman of the Regulatory Oversight Committee, asked Kinder Morgan in November 2015 for more information about the impact of tree cutting on endangered habitat and water quality.
“Here we are, June 2016, and still nothing,” Pignatelli said. “Kocot wanted us to be more informed about what we were voting on.” As a result Kocot directed the bill to “study.” It’s “very possible,” Pignatelli said, “that it won’t go for a vote,” despite the laws of the Commonwealth.
Pignatelli also says it isn’t helping that the “political attention on pipelines has diminished” since Kinder Morgan said it would pull the plug on its larger Northeast Direct Project (NED), one that had activists and politicians up in arms. “I’m not hearing anymore outcry from my colleagues or environmental groups.”
Kinder Morgan, Pignatelli said, “is snubbing its nose at us because of [Agostini’s] ruling. They don’t need to talk to us anymore.”
