Report indicates region needs more natural gas
A preliminary report commissioned by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts suggests energy costs in that state will increase without expanding natural gas supplies, which have been constrained by pipeline capacity limitations.
Natural gas advocates heralded the report, but opponents of expanding the pipeline infrastructure say it is too geographically limited to Massachusetts to influence a regional conversation on the subject, according to the Portland Press Herald.
The discussion about expanding the pipeline infrastructure has turned regional, however. Last January, the six New England governors unveiled a unique effort to expand the regional pipeline capacity through public subsidies. The newspaper also noted that another report estimated that if natural gas prices in New England were on par to those of other areas of the Northeast, electricity customers in the region could save about $1.5 billion a year, with $120 million of that in Maine.
The regional effort stalled in August, and it’s unclear how the new report will impact Massachusetts, which will have a new governor this January.
The report contradicts claims by opponents of the gas pipeline expansion that alternative energy sources are a viable replacement for pipeline expansion, Anthony Buxton, a partner at PretiFlaherty and chairman of its energy and utilities practice group, told the newspaper.
Peter Shattuck, director of clean energy initiatives at Acadia Center, a Rockport-based nonprofit, told the newspaper that the report is a step in the right direction.
Patrick Woodcock, director of Gov. Paul LePage’s energy office, wrote in an email to the Press Herald on Monday that he was not prepared to comment on the preliminary report. The final version of the report is due out today.
“I don’t think I want to comment on it until it is done, but the preliminary report does show a need for additional natural gas infrastructure – not surprising at all,” he wrote. “It will be interesting to look at all the scenarios to see what level of gas is optimal.”
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