Major gas pipeline to make way through region

A natural gas pipeline company is planning the construction of a line through northern Worcester County that may create thousands of jobs and carry natural gas to the eastern part of the state.

Communities across northern Massachusetts have been contacted about the possibility of a gas pipeline being run through the state to Dracut.

Winchendon Town Manger James M. Kreidler Jr. said an official from Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co., a subsidiary of Kinder Morgan Co., contacted his office, but supplied limited information about the pipeline's route and what properties would be affected. He said the company is looking to install a 36-inch line through Massachusetts to transport gas from traditional and developing supply regions, including the Marcellus and Utica shale deposits in the Northeast.

The new line would branch off the existing line at the Massachusetts-New York border in Berkshire County and head north through Franklin County into Worcester County, ending in Dracut in Middlesex County.

A release by the company posted on the website of the town of Tyngsboro, just west of Dracut, indicated the project could result in about 3,000 jobs. Pending approvals, construction would begin in April 2017.

Richard Wheatley, a spokesman for the Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co., said the project is aimed at helping to meet the growing demand for natural gas in the Northeast. The company does not own the gas, but transports it for customers and shippers.

"In general, growth drivers for new gas pipeline infrastructure in New England include identified need and growth in gas-fired power generation," he said.

Mr. Wheatley said the project is in the beginning stages, including land surveys to determine if there are any impediments. He said the company will be contacting landowners in the coming weeks.

"Routing is not final and the formal permitting process with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has yet to begin," he said.

In addition to Winchendon, the company has also contacted Ashburnham, Ashby, Athol, Lunenburg, Royalston and Townsend.

Athol has had a first look at the plan at a meeting Tuesday of the Conservation Commission. Town officials met with representatives of Northeast Land Services, which will do land surveys for Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co.

Edward Kukkula, Townsend highway superintendent, said the town has been notified by the pipeline company of surveys in the town and meeting with residents about the possibility of the pipeline going through their properties.

Mr. Kukkula said he has no major concerns with the project at this point: "I have no problem as long as if they pass through our roads, they repair them to the condition they were in."

Steven Nims, director of public works in Ashburnham, said he was told it would come into Ashburnham near Route 12.

Lunenburg Public Works Director Jack Rodriquenz said his town was told the line would go through a small part of the town. He said he worked with Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co. on another project and the company was very professional, even drilling underground to avoid damaging a swimming pool on the edge of a right-of-way.

Mr. Wheatley said the company's expansion of its existing pipeline system in Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire and New York would include about 250 new miles of pipeline. If all regulatory approvals are received, he said, the project is expected to go into service in November 2018.

Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co. LLC, based in Houston, transports and stores natural gas, with a 13,900-mile pipeline from Texas, Louisiana and the Gulf of Mexico to the Northeast. It is a subsidiary of Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP. Kinder Morgan, also based in Houston, operates about 80,000 miles of pipelines and 180 terminals in North America, making it the third-largest energy company on the continent, according to its website.

Of the 20 interstate natural gas pipeline systems operating in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic, Tennessee Gas is a major transporter and significant source of supply of natural gas to southern New England, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration website.

Contact George Barnes at george.barnes@telegram.com. Follow him on Twitter @georgebarnesTG