Wicked Local Burlington
Posted November 8, 2017
State Rep. Ken Gordon, D-Bedford, led a group of 125 state legislators who have signed onto bipartisan testimony calling for the passage of legislation to permanently protect consumers and the environment from risks associated with gas pipeline expansion.
Though now suspended, Kinder Morgan’s Northeast Energy Direct pipeline and Enbridge’s Access Northeast proposal each threatened conservation efforts, private property and Massachusetts’ climate goals. In 2016, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled the project’s primary financial mechanism, a “pipeline tax” on electric ratepayers, was illegal and placed consumers with a significant burden that would otherwise be borne by investors. Pipeline proponents are currently seeking to amend Massachusetts law to enable the pipeline tax. A House letter circulated by Gordon; state Rep. Stephen Kulik, D-Worthington; and Minority Leader Bradley Jones, R-North Reading, garnered 100 signatures, while a concurrent Senate letter circulated by state Sens. Pat Jehlen, D-Somerville, and Jamie Eldridge, D-Acton, has 20 signers.
“It’s very simple, ratepayers should not be forced to assume the financial responsibility and environmental risk associated with paying for pipelines that a majority of our constituents do not want,” said Gordon.