Conn. energy regulators cancel proposals related to Access North East Project

ACCESS NORTHEAST is a project to expand the volume of natural gas coming into southern New England, but it has hit another roadblock in Connecticut. / PBN GRAPHIC/DARRYL GREENLEE
ACCESS NORTHEAST is a project to expand the volume of natural gas coming into southern New England, but it has hit another roadblock in Connecticut. / PBN GRAPHIC/DARRYL GREENLEE

NEW BRITAIN, Conn. – The effort to expand gas pipeline capacity in the region hit yet another roadblock on Tuesday when Connecticut energy regulators canceled several proposals related to the project.
The Conn. Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, or DEEP, canceled proposals related to the Access North East Project, a regional natural gas pipeline-expansion venture to grow the existing Algonquin Gas Transmission LLC pipeline systems throughout New England. Connecticut now joins Massachusetts and New Hampshire in bowing out of the $3 billion plan.
Rhode Island regulators are still deciding how to move forward and have asked National Grid PLC to provide them with a project update from other New England states by Jan. 13.
State regulators and natural gas advocates often attribute costly electricity rates to the region’s scant gas infrastructure. And while Connecticut shares those concerns, the neighboring state is unwilling to move ahead without the financial backing of Massachusetts and New Hampshire ratepayers.
“The issuance of administrative decisions and a court ruling in other New England jurisdictions have materially reduced the ability for the costs of projects to be shared among a substantial portion of the region’s ratepayers,” DEEP wrote in its decision. “DEEP believes that this problem of inadequate gas infrastructure is greater than one state can solve alone. Regional investment is necessary to ensure that no one state disproportionately bears the costs of addressing what is a problem endemic to our regional electric system.”
The Conservation Law Foundation, an environmental law group in opposition to the project, estimates that without Connecticut, Algonquin’s parent company, Spectra Energy Corp., has lost about 84 percent of the customer base it needs to finance Access North East.
“With yet another state abandoning proposals for more natural gas pipeline capacity, these efforts to expand fossil fuel infrastructure in New England have hit a virtually unsurpassable roadblock,” said CLF president Bradley Campbell in a statement.
In Rhode Island, National Grid is proposing to establish a 20-year contract with Spectra to enhance what few miles of gas pipeline already exist. Ratepayers would be responsible for paying back the cost of the contract, which National Grid has argued is worthwhile because the entire project would save New England retail electric customers under “normal weather conditions” about $1.6 billion per year from 2019 through 2039. Of that, Rhode Island would save $141 million, or about 8.81 percent.
How those estimates will change with the disappearing support from other states, however, could force natural gas advocates back to the drawing board.

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