Beverly Hits Apparent Road Block On National Grid Gas Line Opposition

BEVERLY, MA — The Beverly City Council's desire to reduce reliance on fossil fuels by, in part, denying National Grid's proposal to install a second gas main on Hale Street may be on course to hit a dead end after City Solicitor Stephanie Williams told the Council that the city has little power over where and how the utility places and replaces gas lines under its streets.

A public hearing on National Grid's proposal to place a 12-inch gas line under Hale Street, which it said is intended to increase reliability for existing customers, detoured into a lengthy discussion Monday night on the need for additional gas capacity at a time when the city is promoting the reduction of fossil fuels.

Beverly Mayor Mike Cahill made sustainability and efforts to mitigate the effects of climate change on the coastal city a key part of his State of the City address earlier Monday night, saying: "We need to stop burning oil and gas."

But questions from City Councilors over their practical authority to effect that change by denying or putting restrictions on the new National Grid line were met with repeated caution from Williams that the state Supreme Judicial Court has ruled that the state Department of Public Utilities, and not the city itself, has ultimate control over these types of utility projects.

"I don't think that there is the authority to deny the request for consent based on concerns about expanding our reliance on fossil fuels," Williams told the Council.

City Councilor Estelle Rand began the hearing by raising concerns about whether the Council should be approving any new mechanism for transmitting natural gas through the city in light of a United Nations report released on Monday that said "humanity is on thin ice" and that urgent action is needed to stop the "climate time bomb" that is ticking.

"Their report really broke down the loss of human life related to no action and the loss of human life related to some small action of mitigating climate change," the Ward 2 Councilor said. "As a City Councilor, I think that it's OK to think about a crisis that's being talked about as 'global' in a regional sense. I see other communities that are actually banning additional gas connections in their communities so I'm of the mindset to not support this."

Williams clarified that those communities that Rand referenced had sought state permission to deny gas line construction and main hookup for new construction, but that authority had not been extended to maintaining and improving infrastructure designed to support existing service.

Williams added that while the city has an extensive berth to put restrictions on the National Grid electrical cable project, which was ultimately passed with 33 conditions, that same authority did not extend to the gas line work.

City Councilor Scott Houseman advocated voting against the consent as a means to send a message about the Council's support for reducing fossil fuel reliance.

"What I am hearing this evening is that we basically have no control over those conditions (for the gas project)," Houseman said. "Even though it may be a futile effort, I am inclined at this point to vote against this application and I would encourage my colleagues to consider also doing the same thing and forcing National Grid to go back to the DPU (on a likely appeal).

"It just feels like a vote of conscience at this point that we should not be participating even if our vote is only somewhat symbolic in that respect. This is going to have a real economic impact, an infrastructure impact, and a quality of life impact on my constituents in Ward 4 in a big way on an essentially brand new street, for all intents and purposes."

Williams indicated that the Council could try to put some "conditions" on the project — such as repaving, rodent control and hours of work — but that violations of those conditions, in this case, would likely be ruled as a "nuisance" and not a means to half the project itself.

"I am the only one who is wondering what the penalty for being a nuisance is?" City Council President Julie Flowers asked.

Other City Councilors, while supporting the lessened reliance on fossil fuels in principle, used their time to wonder if this is the right project to make that stand and whether a vote in opposition would merely open the city up to litigation and use of resources on a "fool's errand."

The City Council did vote 6-2 to extend the public hearing until April 3 with hopes that National Grid would return with further data and justification for the need for the specific size of the line on Hale Street.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)