In recent decades, the available supply of natural gas has soared nationally, driving prices so low that many oil and coal-fired power plants have cut back operations or gone out of business altogether. The conflict in Holyoke, a western Massachusetts city of about 40,000 people, is not unique. “Succumbing to pressures around the need for natural gas in the short-term, would not be a longer-term answer to the dangers we face,” Morse said. In mid-June, Mayor Alex Morse wrote to federal regulators asking them to deny the project because it would increase emissions and run counter to the city’s goal of meeting its energy needs with clean and renewable resources. The city’s mayor, though, says that expansion should not be built. Holyoke Gas & Electric is supporting a proposed project to add 2.1 miles of 12-inch pipeline through several towns in the region. One possible solution: build more capacity.
Holyoke, Massachusetts’ municipal utility has halted new natural gas hookups because it can’t meet growing demand under existing pipeline constraints. The debate in Holyoke, Massachusetts, is not unique in the Northeast, where pipeline constraints are forcing decisions.Ī Massachusetts mayor is siding with safety and environmental groups in a pipeline debate that’s pitting climate fears against local economic concerns.
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