The Republican Majority Leader in the New Hampshire House of Representatives has asked federal regulators to reject a proposal to build a natural gas pipeline in Southern New Hampshire.
Jack Flanagan – who represents two towns on the proposed pipeline’s route – says he prefers a competing project in Massachusetts that would widen existing pipelines.
“It made sense to me that if you have an existing pipeline, why would you need a new one? Let’s just make the existing one a little bit larger to handle the demand,” Flanagan said in a phone interview.
Pipeline developer Kinder Morgan has put forward the New Hampshire proposal: it would span 71 miles and cross 17 towns, mostly alongside an existing power-line right-of-way.
The project Flanagan favors is a joint venture by Spectra Energy, Eversource Energy and National Grid. It would expand an already existing pipeline network that stretches from Pennsylvania to the Canadian Maritime provinces.
Both projects say they will increase the region’s pipeline capacity by around a billion cubic feet per day at minimum, and can be scaled up if more customers sign on.
