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FERC Will Not Delay Pipeline At Senators' Urging

Eastbound state route 57 entering Sandisfield, Mass., site of construction for a New York-to-Connecticut natural gas pipeline.
John Phelan
/
Creative Commons
Eastbound state route 57 entering Sandisfield, Mass., site of construction for a New York-to-Connecticut natural gas pipeline.

Federal regulators have brushed off a request by both Massachusetts U.S. senators to delay construction of a natural gas pipeline running through Otis State Forest in southern Berkshire County.

Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey last month asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to put the breaks on the project. They said since FERC lacks a quorum, which is preventing it from holding more hearings on the pipeline, it shouldn't have granted permission to start construction, either.

In a response dated last week, the acting chair of FERC said the commission already conducted a "thorough, independent" review of the New York-to-Connecticut pipeline.

Senators respond:

"FERC should never have allowed this pipeline project to begin construction when it lacked a sufficient quorum to be able to evaluate and act on the challenges that have been raised by the local community. When FERC cannot act on pending challenges to a pipeline project, it should not allow that pipeline project to move forward until those challenges can be heard." -- Sen. Ed Markey

“FERC is clearly wrong: as pipeline construction moves forward, irreparable harm is being done to Otis State Forest. The Commission continues to ignore the voices of Western Massachusetts, which is wrong as a matter of policy and goes against FERC’s own guiding principles.” -- Sen. Elizabeth WarrenLetter From Massachusetts Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey to FERC by New England Public Radio on Scribd

FERC's Response To Massachusetts US Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey by New England Public Radio on Scribd

Copyright 2017 New England Public Media

Adam is based at New England Public Radio’'s Berkshire County news bureau in Pittsfield, where he has been since August, 2015. He joined NEPR as a freelance reporter and fill-in operations assistant during the summer of 2011. For more than 15 years, Adam has had a number stops throughout his broadcast career, including as a news reporter and anchor, sports host and play-by-play announcer as well as a producer and technician.

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