By Martha Klein

As global sources of oil and gas decline, innovative extraction methods put previously unavailable pockets of fuel within reach. Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, releases oil and gas locked deep inside shale rock, by forcing high pressure water, sand and chemicals down holes drilled a few hundred feet to as much as 2000 feet underground, and then capturing the gas and oil that are extracted. The gas that comes into our state now is approximately 40 percent from fracked sources; in the future, that percentage is expected to be close to 100 percent.

The so called “Shale Gas Boom” has precipitated a push by industry for expanded infrastructure in the northeastern United States, and a number of new or expanded gas pipeline projects are slated to come through Connecticut.

For example, Spectra Energy subsidiary Algonquin Gas Transmission, LLC, plans to construct the Algonquin Incremental Market (AIM) pipeline expansion across New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island in 2015 and 2016. This project will increase gas carrying capacity by about 14 percent, traversing the state from Brookfield in the southwest to Putnam in the northeast. It will cross 67 waterbodies and 86 wetlands in Connecticut alone, and will bore horizontally under the Hudson and Still rivers. This project has nearly completed the permitting process and is expected to receive approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), whose public comment period closed September 29.

Kinder Morgan subsidiary Tennessee Gas Pipeline Company (TGP) has proposed a large pipeline project that encompasses New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Connecticut. The project is called Northeast Energy Direct (NED). Previously, NED consisted of four separate components, and FERC approved these connected segments as independent projects. Opponents appealed FERC’s decision to the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, which ruled against FERC in June. The opponents argued that in approving each component separately, FERC failed to consider the cumulative environmental impact of the projects. The court found that the projects are clearly connected geographically and functionally, and remanded the issue to FERC; TGP re-applied to FERC for the entire NED project on September 15.

A separate TGP project called the Connecticut Expansion will build new pipeline in Sandisfield, Massachusetts and Hartford County, and is filed for approval separately from NED.

Fracking has brought the price of gas and oil down domestically, but opponents question whether the gas is needed here or if the industry intends to export gas overseas for greater profit. In fact, the NED project will carry gas into Nova Scotia. Plans are underway to construct more liquid natural gas plants along the coast, which convert gas to liquid for storage and shipment. The Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs filed comments with FERC questioning the necessity of the NED project, and wondering if the extra gas might actually be sold outside the region.

Opponents also express concerns about the environmental effects of fracked gas. The fracking process mixes proprietary chemicals with the water used to extract oil and gas; these secret drilling slurries may contain benzene and other carcinogens, and when leaks or spills happen, these chemicals can enter groundwater. What we know as ìnatural gasî is primarily methane, which is roughly 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists. Although burning gas for energy, transportation and heat produces less carbon dioxide relative to coal or oil, it produces significant amounts of methane. In 2011 the International Energy Agency revealed that a switch from coal to gas would lead to a global temperature rise of more than 3.5 degrees Celsius, a result that is regarded by the scientific community as catastrophic.

Norfolk’s neighbors are fighting the pipelines. Sandisfield, Mass. recently voted to reject the NED project, based on prior experience with the company during a 1981 pipeline expansion. The Energy Facilities Siting Board and the Department of Conservation and Recreation of Massachusetts have filed with FERC for intervenor status in the case. Residents in Danbury, Connecticut turned out for the FERC hearing on AIM on September 10. Comments were 10 to 1 against the project. Danbury residents are troubled by gas flares, noise and vibration, among other concerns, from Danbury’s compressor station; they are convinced that negative impacts on health and environment will only become worse with increased pressure in the pipeline. One man talked about the terrible effect the constant vibration and noise was having on his family, including the family dog, and he noted the disappearance of local wildlife.

Of concern to environmentalists is that this investment in gas infrastructure will subvert the needed expansion of the green energy economy. Simply sealing the leaks in existing pipelines could provide adequate gas for the Northeast. An investment at this time in the development of clean, local energy could provide New England with the additional power it will need, without short and long term environmental degradation.