The name, from a Victorian slang term meaning “tipsy," is in keeping with the unpretentious approach to wine and the communal, convivial vibe. (Nibbles provided, or BYOF.)
Depressed consumer demand for natural gas in Connecticut, could yet save beleaguered Article 97 of the Massachusetts’ Constitution. Reduced demand for gas in Connecticut could allow Massachusetts to continue to protect pristine, specially designated Commonwealth terrain.
Superior Court Judge John Agostini had ruled that federal law trumps state law in such cases and applied eminent domain, allowing Tennessee Gas to have the easement in Otis State Forest, despite Article 97 of the Massachusetts Constitution, that protects old-growth forests from development.
That sacred Native American sites are along the path is just the latest controversy over the pipeline in Otis State Forest. Tennessee Gas is still tied up in court with environmental groups over potential harm to water and animal habitats; the company reneged on a deal to give the town of Sandisfield $1 million for wear and tear to its roads and reimburse legal fees.
The announcement said the easement for Tennessee Gas’ Connecticut Expansion Project will include environmental mitigation, recreational improvements and securing additional conservation land.
“Trump doesn’t like to lose. If he doesn’t make renewables a priority, he will lose to the countries that are working to be clean energy leaders.”
-- Maya van Rossum, head of Delaware Riverkeeper Network
The Kinder Morgan subsidiary had negotiated with Sandisfield town officials, drafting a contract that said it would give the town $1 million to fix roads and other town infrastructure damaged by company equipment. The company walked away when it was time to sign that contract.
Kinder Morgan has begun to backpedal on a promise to pay the town of Sandisfield about $1 million in compensation for wear and tear or damage to roads and other town infrastructure.
Kinder Morgan subsidiary Tennessee Gas Pipeline has been in court since early spring to gain immediate access to clear 3.83 miles of state protected land in Otis State Forest.
Suspension of the NED project will not, it appears, have any effect on Tennessee Gas’ Connecticut Expansion Project, a pipeline storage loop that requires a slice of Massachusetts-owned and protected land in Sandisfield, Massachusetts.
If Kinder Morgan had taken a close look at the Commonwealth before launching NED, the company would have seen that Massachusetts has cut energy demand so dramatically that it has little need for more natural gas.
“I am troubled by Kinder Morgan’s attempts to circumvent federal and state requirements and demand hasty approval of tree clearing and other potentially activities.”
-- Massachusetts U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, in a letter to U.S. Fish & Wildlife Regional Director Wendi Weber
The situation in Sandisfield is fast becoming a precedent-setting testing ground for the power and teeth of Article 97 of the Massachusetts Constitution that preserves state-protected land. That’s why the Attorney General is now involved.
Mass Audubon also argued that “the proposed pipeline would permanently degrade and fragment” Spectacle Pond Farm, an integral component of the Otis State Forest.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is now requiring, among other things, clarification “that Tennessee would not fell trees in areas where it has not obtained an easement or purchase of property…including lands protected under Article 97 of the Massachusetts State Constitution.”
“This is very exciting news. While very few people see the need for this gas line, all that we have ever asked of Kinder Morgan and FERC is to follow the process, be open and be fair to this beautiful community of 800 residents."
-- State Rep. William "Smitty" Pignatelli
“This is a case of a forest of clean air machines being literally traded for the transmission of fossil fuels. Not a step in the right direction.”
-- Arborist Tom Ingersoll, on the Kinder Morgan proposal to cut a swathe through protected old-growth forests in Sandisfield to build a natural gas pipeline extension to Connecticut
