Update: On August 28, FERC extended the public comment period for the agency's environmental impact statement on the Northeast Energy Direct. The agency will be hosting a 14th public comment period in Cheshire County, NH at a time and location to be determined. FERC says it will announce the new public comment deadline shortly.
Opponents of a proposed natural gas pipeline that would run through Pennsylvania, New York, New Hampshire and Massachusetts are holding an informational picket in Pittsfield Friday.Members of opponent groups like No Fracked Gas in Mass plan to meet outside Kinder Morgan’s Pittsfield office on North St. Friday at noon. The company’s 400-plus mile Northeast Energy Direct Project would carry 2.2 or 1.3 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day, depending on the pipe size, to a distribution hub in Dracut, Massachusetts by way of New York’s Capital Region and western Massachusetts. Bob Connors is with Stop NY Fracked Gas Pipeline.
“The activists know all about it, but much of the general public doesn’t” Connors said. “If they do, they just might comment ‘Oh, well what’s another gas pipeline? I’ve got gas at my house. What are we worried about here? So our purpose is to further educate the public on the dangers involved.”
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission must approve the project. The public comment period for FERC’s environmental impact statement ends Monday.
