Sandisfield — With nine days left until Tennessee Gas Pipeline Company (TGP) can begin clearing a swath of Otis State Forest for its new pipeline project, some of the town’s landowners, along with local and regional environmentalists, have filed an appeal Wednesday, July 20, of the Kinder Morgan subsidiary’s 401 water quality certificate, issued last month by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP).
Also on Wednesday, July 20, Massachusetts Assistant Attorney General Matthew Ireland told Berkshire Superior Court Judge John A. Agostini that the state reserves the right to step in with emergency filings depending on how negotiations go over how much the company will pay the state for its land, or if the gas company does not adhere to environmental conditions imposed by MassDEP and town permits for the company’s Connecticut Expansion Project gas storage loop.
Tennessee Gas attorneys and Ireland were back in court to schedule a compensation hearing to determine how much the company will pay the state for the easement on state-owned conservation land, granted by Agostini in May since the U.S. Natural Gas Act allows such easements by eminent domain. A hearing date was set for Tuesday, August 30, should the parties require another 30 days to come to an agreement, what with summer vacations and other interruptions.
And as early as next Tuesday, July 26, both the company and the state will notify the court of their progress or any agreements that have been made.
Agostini had also ruled in May that Tennessee Gas’ work at the site could not begin until Friday, July 29, to give the Legislature time to officially weigh in on the granting of the state’s land. The Legislature has not yet acted, however, on land protected under Article 97 of the state’s constitution, land that borders an old growth forest. The company had unsuccessfully appealed the July 29 stay.
Boston law firm McGregor & Legere filed the appeal on behalf of members of the Pipe Line Awareness Network for the Northeast (PLAN-NE), landowners in Sandisfield, and Berkshire Environmental Action Team (BEAT).
“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, one landowner involved in the appeal. “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.”
“Kinder Morgan has a terrible track record,” said Jane Winn, BEAT’s executive director. “I don’t think they even live up to their own ‘best management practices.’” For over a decade, BEAT has worked to help people in the Berkshires take action to protect the environment. “I am very concerned about the impacts the project would have on the wetlands and Spectacle Pond.”
Tennessee Gas plans to use millions of gallons from Spectacle Pond to flush out newly installed pipes, raising concerns about chemicals from the pipes being released into the environment.
PLAN-NE president Kathryn Eiseman said PLAN-NE is financially backing the appeal and fundraising for it. “One of the reasons PLAN-NE formed was so that people and organizations across the region could pool their resources to hire top-notch legal and technical experts,” Eiseman said.
On the compensation front, Tennessee Gas attorney James Messenger told Agostini that company attorneys and Attorney General Maura Healey’s office have been in the “early stages” of reaching an agreement over what the company must pay the state for the land. “There are no guarantees, but we’re making progress,” he said.
The attorney general’s office declined to comment about whether the land in question has been appraised.
Messenger also told the court that once an agreement was made, “nobody else would have compensation rights…it would terminate the entire case.”
But Agostini knows the town of Sandisfield is still looking for the roughly $1 million TGP promised town officials in an unsigned agreement, and $30,000 in promised reimbursement of the town’s legal fees.
“That dispute is still outstanding,” he said.
Sandisfield Town Manager Alice Boyd told the Edge Messenger won’t return her phone calls. She says she is “hoping to continue the long-term negotiations for compensation,” which have been ongoing for several years.
But the issue of how to compensate Sandisfield for wear and tear on its infrastructure will be dealt with Tuesday, as well, Agostini said. “If resolved ahead of time, that’s even better,” he added.
Attorney Jeffrey Bernstein of the firm BCK Law in Waltham is representing the town and attended the hearing.
Messenger reminded the court that the company has the right to get on the land by Saturday, July 30, once federal approval is official. Agostini said he would issue that order for the company and have it ready by Thursday, July 28.
Ireland told Agostini that, if compensation negotiations break down or if Tennessee Gas behaves in a way the “Commonwealth thinks is illegal or against orders,” the state “reserves its right to move on an emergency basis.”
