Hundreds of people turned out for an outreach meeting last night on a proposed multi-state natural gas pipeline and compressor station slated for the small Berkshire County town of Windsor.Pipeline opponents stood along Route 9 illuminated by the lights of a billboard truck expressing labor union support for Kinder Morgan’s Northeast Energy Direct Project and its expected 3,000 jobs. People streamed from cars parked on both sides of the road into the Windsor Fire Station where North America’s largest energy infrastructure company was explaining its project with the help of posters, videos and dozens of employees. The 400-plus mile pipeline would run from Pennsylvania through New York, western Massachusetts, and New Hampshire before ending in eastern Massachusetts. Nine new compressor stations including ones in Nassau, New York in Rensselaer County and Windsor are being proposed.
“This is really, at the end of the day, an engineering decision,” said Kinder Morgan’s vice president of public affairs Allen Fore.
Fore says station siting is based on the hydraulics of moving gas through the 30-inch pipe, which can carry 1.3 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day.
“We look at sites that are in an area that can facility the construction of a compressor station,” he said. “You’re starting from the macro aspect down to the actual track of land and then you work to find an individual landowner who is willing to sell the property.”
A 41,000 horsepower compressor station is being proposed off of Peru Road in Windsor.
“I think they saw Windsor as an easy mark,” said Jan Bradley. “We’re a rural community. We’re not a wealthy town. They were looking for a spot to hide a compressor station and they think that Windsor is that spot.”
Bradley was among those standing outside the fire station holding signs opposing Kinder Morgan’s efforts. She’s lived in Windsor for 30 years and runs a small farm.
“We are a very small, rural community with nothing larger than a two- pump gas station,” she said. “Not even a flashing red light. People move here to get away from commercialism and suburbs. We have dark skies, wildlife and quiet. People move here to get away from exactly what Kinder Morgan wants to put through.”
Bradley expressed concern about compounds like benzene being released into the air from the compressor station. According to its website, Kinder Morgan says benzene and other hazardous air pollutants that may result from production are removed before entering the pipeline. Richard Wagner joined Bradley in warning about emissions they say will harm the town’s water and air.
“We have a right to defend our freedoms and our community,” Wagner said. “There’s no denying that the money is powerful, but each one of us joining arms and agreeing that this is not for our benefit, we have a right to protest it. Rather than just sit and say ‘It’s happening, let it happen.’ This is ridiculous. We are not going to sit still.”
Wagner hopes similar voices from the town of less than 900, according to 2010 census numbers, will convince the federal government to deny Kinder Morgan the necessary permits. Fore says station emissions are subject to state and federal regulatory standards. He adds the company typically buys 100 acres for a compressor station site to create a buffer zone around the buildings including trees to inhibit visibility and noise pollution.
“We have compressor stations that have been operating in New England for 60 years and many times those compressor stations when originally constructed were in rural and remote areas,” Fore said. “Now the residential areas have literally come up to the borders of the compressor facility. Residences, neighborhoods and populations have grown right up to our compressor stations and have been operating in those areas, safely, for generations.”
Fore says areas that house a compressor station usually see $1 million in tax revenue. Kinder Morgan plans to file its application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on November 20th, which will begin the formal review process. If granted the necessary approvals, construction would take place in 2018.
Click here for WAMC’s continuing coverage of the Northeast Energy Direct Project.
