In order to begin construction of new Sagamore and Bourne bridges, the methane gas pipeline attached to the bridges must be relocated. Unfortunately, instead of just relocating the pipeline, AGT (the company that owns the pipeline) is attempting to increase the capacity of the pipeline, bypassing comprehensive environmental reviews.
They are exploiting $300 million in state and federal bridge replacement funds to build a pipeline running under the canal that would be capable of delivering at least twice as much fracked gas onto Cape Cod. This project has already made it through the state and federal permitting processes, and all documents filed by AGT and its parent company, Enbridge, have claimed this project to be a relocation and not an expansion. Despite comments from Sierra Club and other organizations proving this to be an expansion, neither the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission nor the Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act office held AGT accountable for the environmental reviews necessary for an expansion of this size.
In September, Cape Cod Commission will begin reviewing the proposed project as a Development of Regional Impact (DRI). Throughout this process there is an opportunity for the Cape Cod Commission to fix some of the aspects of this project that the state and federal processes missed. We can impact this process through public comment and showing up to public hearings requesting that AGT be forced to address the expansion and need for mitigation.
Public comment is now open!
Use our public comment guide and submit a comment to the Cape Cod Commission's Development of Regional Impact Review and request that this project maintain the same natural gas capacity, and not expand on the taxpayer's dollar.
How to comment:
Visit this link: https://capecodcommission.org/comment
Select “Algonquin Pipeline Relocation-25012-Bourne”
Write your comment in the text box provided or upload a file with your comment.
The first subcommittee hearing has not be scheduled yet -- email eva.morgan@sierraclub.org to be notified of upcoming events and committee hearings.
Past Events:
Community Advocacy Workshops: Join us in person to learn about the proposed pipeline expansion project, how to submit public comment, and the next steps in building our movement to prevent more fracked gas from flowing onto the Cape.
9/16 @ 6:45pm : Sandwich Public Library
9/17 @ 12pm: Eastham Public Library
