Could a new natural gas pipeline to Cape Cod mean a future increase in gas consumption on the Cape?
Members of the Cape Cod Commission and the public tried to pin down an answer to that question Wednesday, as a commission subcommittee held its first hearing on the project to replace the pipelines under the Bourne and Sagamore bridges with a single line drilled under the Cape Cod Canal.
Critics claim the larger-diameter pipe could carry more gas than the two old pipes combined — double the volume, Sierra Club Massachusetts says — if pipeline owner Algonquin Gas Transmission were to receive federal approval for more flow and if National Grid’s downstream distribution system were expanded to handle it.
The Sierra Club and other detractors say burning more gas on Cape Cod flies in the face of goals to reduce communities’ carbon footprint, including goals in the commission’s own Regional Policy Plan.
Liz Argo of the Yarmouth Select Board said the town wants to protect the character of the Cape. She said the increase in the size of the pipe makes the town nervous, and Yarmouth wants to make sure the line will not carry more gas.
“We know our environment is our economy on Cape Cod,” she said. “So we're very much watching what the Cape Cod Commission will do to make sure that there is no capacity change.”
She said the town wants the commission to ensure that “we don't change the character and the environment on Cape Cod.”
But the commission does not have the authority to limit the volume of gas in the pipeline, said Jordan Velozo, chief regulatory officer for the Cape Cod Commission. That authority rests with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
Conditions set by the Cape Cod Commission, she said, cannot conflict with federal approval or “create an unreasonable obstacle to construction in accordance with that authorization.”
Algonquin Gas Transmission and its parent company, Canadian energy company Enbridge, have said the pipeline’s federally approved capacity will not change as part of the relocation project. But the company has not answered direct questions about the physical capability of the pipe to carry more gas in the future.
Algonquin representatives at Wednesday’s meeting said any increase in gas transmission would require both federal approval and an expansion of National Grid’s distribution system, which would need state approval.
Asked by a reporter if the new pipeline would be physically capable of carrying more gas than the old ones, Blair Hastey, manager of marketing and business development for Algonquin, refused to answer and referred questions to Enbridge spokesperson Melissa Sherburne.
Sherburne, responding to questions for a previous CAI report last week, said the relocation would not increase the capacity of the pipeline. But she did not answer a question seeking to differentiate between the legal capacity of the pipeline and the amount of gas it would be capable of carrying in the future.
Members of the audience at the Cape Cod Commission subcommittee hearing, held at the Bourne Veterans Memorial Community Center, had the opportunity to comment but not pose questions to Algonquin.
Steve Buckley, of Chatham, spoke to the company’s use of the term “capacity,” which he said is confusing.
“I want to know what could go through [the pipeline], not would go through,” he said. “Those two words, “would” and “could,” mean two different things."
Though many aired concerns, some said they support continued use of natural gas on Cape Cod and giving customers the choice between gas and electricity.
Yarmouth resident Reiner Kuhr said the carbon footprint of gas may not be worse than electricity, if the power is generated by burning gas.
“Restricting the supply of gas works against the intent of climate policies because you're … burning two or three times as much gas to make the electricity to try to replace the gas that you're restricting,” he said.
Hastey, of Algonquin, emphasized that the pipeline is being relocated to accommodate the replacement of the Bourne and Sagamore bridges.
“This project is designed to get out of the way for [the Massachusetts Department of Transportation] and provide the same level of service that exists,” he said. “If we were to try to expand our system to provide and bring incremental capacity into this area, it would take a much larger expansion. National Grid would have to go before the state, get approval for those increased volumes, specific at those delivery points.”
He said Algonquin is required to provide natural gas for customers, such as National Grid, as they request it.
“Ultimately, we're an open-access pipeline,” he said. “We serve and meet the needs of customers that want or need natural gas. And through our regulatory body, we are required to provide that.”
Cape Cod Commission subcommittee member David Mead-Fox, who asked several questions of Algonquin during the meeting, declined to comment afterwards.
Velozo said commissioners are prohibited from expressing any opinions on a project during a Development of Regional Impact review, because the review is a quasi-judicial process.
The subcommittee continued the hearing to Nov. 12 at 5 p.m., to be held by video conference on Zoom.
