While we’ve been waiting for Enbridge’s to file Project Maple with FERC, they have filed multiple individual projects for the same “Algonquin Gas Transmission” (AGT) system. Proposing them as upgrades being made for “reliability” or “deliverability”, almost all of them increase the capacity of the system.
Proposing small pieces of a larger project as being ostensibly unrelated is a commonly used industry tactic known as “segmentation”. It breaks up impacts of a large project into lots of smaller ones,
OTHER ALGONQUIN SYSTEM FILINGS
Two stand-alone projects on the AGT were filed with FERC in late 2023 and early 2024, one project in CT and one in RI. Enbridge asked for “blanket authority” under an existing permit from 1987. Filing this way, these projects would have received automatic approval if no protests were filed in response.
Opposing organizations were able to get protests filed on both dockets in time to trigger review by FERC. Though those extended review periods have expired, as of June 3, 2024, FERC has not approved the projects nor replied to Enbridge’s repeated pleas on the dockets for swift approval.
– FERC docket #CP24-21, a regulator facility to be added to an injection site on the E-1 lateral in Coventry, CT
– FERC docket #CP24-49, replacement of existing 6″ pipeline with a 12″ pipeline under the Sakonnet River in RI (part of Narragansett Bay)
In a lawsuit filed in US District Court in Boston, Algonquin Gas Transmission of Houston asked a federal judge to order the city of Cambridge to let it cut down trees on a city-owned lot in Lincoln , which they claim is the only feasible spot for hauling in a new back-up “meter and regulator” station that can help monitor and control gas pressure in the company’s pipelines.
The company filed a motion for a preliminary injunction to let it begin cutting down the trees immediately even as its lawsuit proceeds.
In a recent update, a legal agreement has been reached between the City of Cambridge and Algonquin Gas Transmission on the project. Last summer’s proposal planned cutting down 75 trees, whifh was lowered to 55 under an proposal in May. But under the new agreement that number has been lowered to around 35 trees