Massachusetts governor asks Trump administration to speed natgas pipeline review

By Reuters News

By Scott DiSavino

NEW YORK, Oct 2 (Reuters) - Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey called on the Trump administration to expedite the review of a natural gas pipeline that a unit of Canadian energy firm Enbridge ENB.TO is developing in New England.

After opposing most new fossil fuel projects over the past decade or so, several states in the US Northeast region have become more accepting of fossil fuel projects in recent years in an effort to help reduce soaring consumer energy bills.

  • Healey called on the Trump administration on Thursday to expedite federal review of the expansion of the Algonquin Gas Transmission pipeline, known as the Reliable Affordable Resilient Enhancement (RARE) project, that she said US President Donald Trump has previously supported.

  • The project is expected to provide gas supply to 600,000 customers and lower gas bills by $40 million each year.

  • The additional gas supply from the RARE project is expected to reduce reliance on higher-cost imported liquefied natural gas (LNG) from US energy firm Constellation Energy's CEG.O Everett LNG import terminal in Massachusetts, the governor said.

  • "I’ve been clear that we need to bring more energy supply into Massachusetts with an all-of-the-above approach that includes solar, wind, storage, nuclear, geothermal, hydro and gas,” Healey said.

  • Enbridge said on its website that it was targeting a 2028 in-service date for the RARE project, which will expand capacity by around 75 million cubic feet per day.

  • Algonquin transports roughly 3.1 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) of gas through 1,131 miles (1,820 kilometers) of pipe in New Jersey, New York and New England.

  • One billion cubic feet of gas can supply about 5 million US homes for a day.

  • In January, the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities (DPU) approved two 10-year agreements between units of New England energy company Eversource Energy ES.N and Algonquin to deliver new gas supplies to customers.

  • The RARE project is currently undergoing federal environmental review through the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the governor said.

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