If I have sounded like a broken record these past months, it is because these developments in American public health are as important as they are horrifying.
State Sen. Adam Hinds: "If anybody's learned anything from this election, it's that elections have consequences – serious policy consequences. They are absolutely gutting the EPA at a rate that even the most pessimistic person would be surprised about right now." Hinds was also sharply critical of the state in allowing the pipeline project to move through the Otis State Forest, which is state-owned land ostensibly protected from development.
Sitting right next to the existing right-of-way being widened aggressively by Tennessee Gas Company is a "Thoreau Cabin," so named for American transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau, who wrote the famous essay on civil disobedience.
Following nearly four years of struggle against a powerful company (Kinder Morgan and its subsidiary, Tennessee Gas Pipeline) backed by laws and a Federal commission, it seems that now is an appropriate point to judge performances of the various participants and agencies that could have made more of a difference to avoid this calamity.
"This is obviously fear of a trial. We want our day in court to talk about both the immorality and illegality of what's going on ... we want a trial."
--- Vivienne Simon of the Sugar Shack Alliance
So where were the Massachusetts officials who could have negotiated with Connecticut to save Otis State Forest because the gas wasn’t really needed after all?
Is there a significant need for natural gas in Connecticut to cause Tennessee to proceed [with the pipeline] despite the fervent opposition? The answer appears to be “not anymore.”
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.
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
"The purchase of this spectacular property [Otis State Forest] ensures its lasting protection and is an example of our prudent investment in the Commonwealth’s rare and irreplaceable natural resources.”
--- Gov. Deval Patrick, in 2007
“We’ve been FERC’ed!”
-- Rep. William “Smitty” Pignatelli, upon learning that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission had approved a Tennessee Gas Pipeline route through the protected lands of Otis State Forest in March of 2016
