In his letter to the editor, Ken Stokem writes: “Opportunities and economics could reactivate the Northeast Direct natural gas pipelines or new fossil fuel pipelines through our neighborhoods.”
“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
The export of liquid natural gas (LNG) now expected to be a major component of the Northeast Direct natural gas pipeline project is likely to result in higher domestic prices. “The very facts surrounding the need for additional gas capacity are highly disputed.”
-- Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, who is also challenging the legality of the ratepayer-funded pipeline
Disasters make us wake up and realize all over again how precious life is, and how important health and security are to human happiness. Even here in the placid Berkshires, we need to think about disaster prevention and preparedness. No, we don’t live in an earthquake zone, and no, I don’t see any riots on the horizon in quiet little Great Barrington. But there are some big issues brewing that we do need to be paying attention to now, before they become runaway disasters.
"The six New England states never, as the article stated, made “a decision to impose a charge of dubious legality on all New England ratepayers in order to support the funding of a natural gas pipeline that is planned to traverse Massachusetts."
-- Heather Hunt, executive director of New England States Committee on Electricity
The proposed pipeline route travels through an estimated 20 state-protected wildlife management areas and state forests, municipal watershed protection areas, the reservations and sanctuaries of The Trustees and Mass Audubon, and the Appalachian Trail.
