A new group that claims to advocate for consumers by pushing for natural gas pipeline construction as a way to cut rising electricity costs is made up of industry insiders.
Anthony Buxton, general counsel and spokesman for the Coalition to Lower Energy Costs, is a registered energy industry lobbyist in Maine, where he represents Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co., a Kinder Morgan Energy Partners subsidiary that wants Maine ratepayers to subsidize a proposed natural gas pipeline from New York to Dracut. However, Buxton said he is not involved in the Massachusetts project.
Barbara Kates-Garnick, the coalition’s senior energy policy adviser, is a former executive at KeySpan and National Grid, and former commissioner of the Department of Public Utilities.
Buxton, who confirmed his industry links, denied the coalition is a front for the industry, saying it wants to increase the supply of natural gas to New England, thereby “dramatically” lowering energy costs.
When asked who would pay for such a pipeline, Buxton said: “Ratepayers would pay for the pipeline over time, but would recoup those costs in electricity savings.”
But Greg Cunningham, senior attorney at the Conservation Law Foundation, said ratepayers don’t need a pipeline in Massachusetts because there already are incremental pipeline expansions in the final stages of approval that would bring relief to consumers years before any Tennessee Gas pipeline could be built.
“They (the coalition) say (their proposal) would benefit citizens, as if they represent the citizens,” he said. “They represent a multi-billion corporation that is pushing an estimated $3- to $6-billion pipeline that it wants to be paid for by consumers.”
