Kinder Morgan has won a key federal approval of its proposed 13-mile natural gas pipeline expansion, part of which will touch Hartford County.
FERC issued a certificate of public convenience and necessity for the $86 million project on March 11 to Kinder Morgan subsidiary Tennessee Pipeline Co.
FERC, which has authority over interstate gas pipelines, approved three proposed “loops,” which will touch Connecticut, Western Massachusetts and Albany County, New York.
Tennessee Pipeline already has agreements to sell the gas to Avangrid’s Connecticut Natural Gas Corp. and Southern Connecticut Gas Co. and Eversource’s Yankee Gas. In all, they would receive approximately 72,000 dekatherms of gas per day from the project.
Various concerns were raised by opponents, including Mass Audubon, citizen groups and others.
FERC shot down arguments about the proposed pipeline’s potential impact on carbon emissions, Tennessee Pipeline’s financial security and pipeline maintenance capabilities. FERC said some worries, such as those about fracking and national energy policy, were beyond its jurisdictional reach.
In Massachusetts, where 26 acres of Otis State Forest would be impacted by the expansion, there’s opposition from some lawmakers and residents, and the matter may be challenged in federal court, according to MassLive.
Meanwhile, Kinder Morgan said in an announcement that it intends to complete construction by fall, soon enough for the gas to flow by 2016-2017 winter heating season.
