SALEM — Today, Congressman Seth Moulton (D-MA) launched an online portal for constituent feedback on energy costs and, in particular, the proposed Northeast Energy Direct pipeline proposed by Kinder Morgan. The feedback portal seeks to provide a forum for constituents to express their thoughts and concerns about energy costs in New England and the proposed pipeline.
“As I hold meetings across the district, I hear from a growing number of constituents with serious concerns about rising energy costs and the proposed Kinder Morgan pipeline,” said Moulton. “This portal will give a voice to those who feel that their concerns are not being heard and addressed by Kinder Morgan and the pipeline promoters.”
The feedback portal is available for comment on the website (https://moulton.house.gov/uncategorized/kinder-morgan-feedback-portal )and it will be open for individuals to submit their comments until May 20th. While many constituents may have provided testimony to FERC online, or at a public scoping meeting, federal agencies do not respond directly to that feedback. Moulton will use the information collected from the online portal to seek a formal response to constituent concerns from FERC and Kinder Morgan.
“The people I’ve talked to feel like the concerns they raised to Kinder Morgan have fallen on deaf ears,” said Moulton. “I will share the feedback from the portal directly with FERC and Kinder Morgan in order to hold them accountable and to provide a meaningful response to our communities’ concerns.”
Moulton has engaged with a broad range of stakeholders, ranging from businesses to elected officials to environmental interest groups, about the proposed pipeline. After convening a meeting of the local and state leaders of communities that would be affected by the proposed pipeline on August 26, 2015, Moulton sent a letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to ask for an additional scoping meeting to enable constituents to express their concerns. FERC denied the request, citing the scoping meeting held in Dracut, Massachusetts as the forum for public input by communities affected by the proposed Lynnfield lateral pipeline.
