Could Kinder Morgan Pipeline be Coming to Merrimack?

At the Jan. 19, meeting of the Merrimack Town Council, a group called Merrimack Citizens for Pipeline Information presented a Power Point presentation which raised numerous questions about a proposal to build a new gas pipeline through Merrimack. Apparently, the Town Council is reluctant about taking a position on this until more information is forthcoming from Kinder Morgan. From what I could tell, Kinder Morgan has been less than forthcoming. They did offer to meet privately with the Council but, when informed that the meeting would have to be public, they said they would schedule a date sometime in March at a date yet to be determined.

This is far too late to inform the public as the current closing date for public input into this phase is March 18! Time is running out The Council has requested an extension but last I heard had not received any response.

From what I can gather, this pipeline is not going to extend gas service within Merrimack but is for transporting gas from the gas fields of Pennsylvania to their terminal in Dracut. There would be some revenue generated by property taxes on the pipeline however, there would also likely be a decrease in property taxes raised from current owners due to reduced property values. There also appears to be precedent that would suggest that the property tax revenue would be inconsistent and hard to predict if it is based on the capacity they operate the pipeline at.

Towns in Massachusetts have already objected to the point that the decision was made to route the pipeline through Southern NH instead. Given the impact on private property rights and safety concerns, it would seem that there are a lot of questions that need to be answered about the costs vs. benefits of this pipeline for Merrimack. The proposed route even runs through Horse Hill Nature Preserve.

Unfortunately, it would seem that the majority of Merrimack residents are not even aware of this proposal or the looming deadline. There is a special meeting of the Town Council regarding this topic on 1/29 at 7PM in the Matthew Thornton Room at Town Hall. In addition, if you would like more information I would suggest you view the Town Council meeting of 1/19 on Merrimack TV.

More information is also available at merrimacknh.gov/KinderMorganInformation, the Amherst town website at Amherstnh.gov or by visiting NHPipelineAwareness.org.

Presently I am not advocating for or against the pipeline. I am however, very concerned that a proposal with such far reaching ramifications is being considered without a larger portion of the public even aware of it.