Press statement from Dracut Pipeline Awareness Group in response to Kinder Morgan’s announcement that the Northeast Energy Direct project has been scaled back to 1.3 BCF instead of 2.2 BCF of Capacity.
We have been saying all along that a 2.2 Billion cubic foot per day (bcf/day) pipeline was more than we need and it appears that the Kinder Morgan board of Directors has agreed. Even at 1.3 billion cubic feet a day, it is clear that the gas is intended mostly for export, because there are other expansion projects underway that will be in service much sooner than the Kinder Morgan plan. Note that Kinder Morgan the TGP corporation are not separate companies; they are listed at SEC.GOV as having the same address and management.
Kinder Morgan is also grossly exaggerating the demand for gas and electric power. Currently wholesale prices for electricity in New England are at a 12-year low, according to ISO New England. See: http://www.wbjournal.com/article/20150716/NEWS01/150719959.
Power demand in the last 12 months is at a 14-year low. (see: http://www.iso-ne.com/static-assets/documents/2014/09/enepk_report.xls )
With renewable energy and battery storage rapidly coming online — and power demand in the region continuing to decrease as employment rises — there is no need for a build out of pipeline infrastructure. In fact the pipeline company wants to kill tens of thousand of jobs related to weatherization and renewable energy to get us hooked on using more gas.
Kinder Morgan also seems determined to send billions of cubic feet of gas to its proposed export terminal in Louisiana, which is only going to increase prices for consumers in the United States.
Dracut was never designed as a natural gas hub. We are a residential community with quiet neighborhoods, and historically an agricultural community with prime farmland that is now protected by conservation restrictions on both a state and federal level. The pipeline project would turn hundreds of beautiful homes into undesirable starter homes — all to secure more profit for a Houston Corporation.
Dracut Pipeline Awareness Group
Carolyn Zuk, Rich Cowan
Dracut