North Adams Council Opposes Tennessee Gas Pipeline

The North Adams City Council is opposing the proposed natural gas pipeline.

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The City Council has joined a growing group of municipalities opposing the proposed $4 billion Tennessee Gas Pipeline through the state. 

A cautious City Council previously delayed a resolution against the controversial Tennessee Gas Pipeline.

However, after the Public Services Committee discussed the issue and unanimously agreed with the resolution the council followed suit.

Chairman of the Public Services Committee Joshua Moran said the committee unanimously supported the resolution with small amendments to it. He said they felt it was a good way to support neighboring communities and environmental concerns, while not permanently binding the city to anything.

"I guess I simply see this resolution as saying to the other communities that we support you, and it gives them a few extra people on their side," Moran said. "I am not saying this cannot happen absolutely, but I think if it does happen everything should be 100 percent transparent."

Although it passed, the resolution did not go through unanimously, Councilors Keith Bona and Nancy Bullet voted against the resolution because they felt there was not enough information and that they were interfering with a process that does not affect the city.

Council President Lisa Blackmer abstained from voting and Councilor Jenifer Breen was absent from the meeting.

Bona said residents have approached him with mix feeling about the issue and he himself felt unsure about voting one way or the other.

"I usually need to feel stronger about something," Bona said. "It is not that I don't support it, but ... I really don't feel strong enough one way or the other, and I don't know which way to vote at this moment."

The resolution was submitted by local resident Rachel Branch, who has been advocating against the pipeline since March including doing a series on Northern Berkshire Community Television, requesting the council to adopt a stand against the pipeline. 

"Massachusetts is the leader in sustainable and renewable energy, and we need to keep fighting for those steps we are taking," Branch said. "This is a public safety, a public health issue, and this is an issue about saving our planet saving our water and saving our lives."

Branch explained to the Public Services Committee on Sept. 22 that 32 cities and towns had signed on to the petition opposing the 36-inch line that will cut through Berkshire, Franklin and Worcester counties on its way from New York State to Dracut. 

Some city residents who opposed the resolution attended the meeting to make statements.

Roger Eurbin brought up safety concerns of shipping natural gas by train. He brought up an accident that happened in Canada in which a tank exploded and injured civilians.

"I don't want to see that happen in North Adams; we have tank cars by the hundreds that come through here," Eurbin said.

While it is not expected to physically affect North Adams, it was a matter of "standing up in support of our neighbors," Branch said. 

The resolution had been referred to the Public Services Committee to allow "the other side" a chance to state its case; despite notifying Kinder Morgan, the developer of the Northeast Energy Direct project, of the meeting, no representative showed. 

In fact, no one from the public other than Branch attended, leading committee member Keith Bona to wonder if, in fact, North Adams citizens had any stand on the issue.

"It does seem like there are some people out there who are environmentalists who would be here," he said, suggesting that the pipeline, which won't come near North Adams, was simply not on people's minds. 

The pipeline project has stirred a hornet's nest of opposition in Central Berkshire. The $4 billion project is expected to cut through Dalton, Hinsdale, Lenox, Peru, Pittsfield, Richmond, Washington and Windsor before heading off to Franklin County. Resolutions opposing the pipeline have so far been passed in Dalton, Lenox, Richmond, Sandisfield and Windsor. Pittsfield is being asked to oppose it but delayed a vote on a resolution Tuesday night.

The governors of the New England states have backed off support, said Branch. "For Gov. [Deval] Patrick it's about his legacy and Massachusetts being first in alternative and sustainable energy."

"It's not clear to me we're not going to have a benefit from it," she said. 

Committee members said since the resolution was nonbinding, it could be revisited should Kinder Morgan show that the city and its residents could benefit from the pipeline.

Public Services Superintendent Timothy Lescarbeau said he had been told potential electric rates could double or triple if the pipeline is stopped.

"I don't know if that's a scare tactic or the truth," he said.

Councilor Wayne Wilkinson, who also attended, said he was personally against fracking — the process of using hydraulically pressurized liquid to fracture rock to access natural gas — because of the long-term environmental issues. 

However, he objected to stating the people of North Adams were against the pipeline when it was unknown how they felt. The committee offered an amended version stating the City Council was adopting the resolution on "behalf" of the citizens, which was passed.

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