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Spectra Energy first announced an unnamed pipeline project to shuttle gas from the Marcellus/Utica to New England in July 2014 (see Spectra Energy to the Rescue! New England Pipeline Expansion). In September 2014 Spectra announced they had named the project Access Northeast and added Northeast Utilities–now called Eversource Energy–as a partner (see Spectra Energy New England Pipeline Gets a Name & a Partner). In December 2014, Spectra formed an alliance with a competitor, the Iroquois Gas Transmission pipeline, to further extend the reach of the project (see Spectra Energy Alliance with Iroquois to Sell Marcellus Gas to NE). The project is pegged to cost around $3 billion and will connect four different pipeline systems: Texas Eastern, Algonquin Gas Transmission, Iroquois and Maritimes & Northeast. Kinder Morgan’s competing project, Northeast Energy Direct, dropped out of the running (see NED is Dead – Kinder Morgan Suspends $3.3B New England Pipeline). Spectra stayed in–but was dealt a body blow by Massachusetts (see MA Supreme Court Ruling Endangers New England Gas Pipelines). But Spectra committed to pushing forward anyway (see Spectra Spits in MA High Court’s Eye – We’ll Still Build Pipeline). Now comes another body blow: New Hampshire regulators are following MA’s lead in not allowing utility company Eversource pass along some of the costs of the pipeline to electric rate payers…
