by Tom Brown vtdigger.org The Vermont Public Service Board on Friday decided to allow Phase One of Vermont Gas’ pipeline expansion to proceed without further review. The regulatory body said in its decision that a 40 percent increase in the estimated cost of the natural gas project through Addison County was not enough to require a re-examination of the company’s certificate of public good. “Having carefully considered the record developed at the hearing we convened on September 26, 2014, as well as the briefs subsequently filed by the parties, we have concluded that the new cost information is not of such a material and controlling nature so as to change our previous determination that approval of the Project pursuant to the criteria of 30 V.S.A. § 248 will promote the general good of Vermont,” the decision reads.
The PSB approved the company’s 41-mile pipeline from Colchester south to Middlebury in December. In July, the company increased its cost estimate by$35 million, citing nationwide competition for natural gas construction.
Vermont Gas has also said that the cost of the project, now estimated at $121.6 million, could increase further.
CLICK HERE TO READ PSB ORDER DATED 10.10.14
Pipeline opponents seized on the July cost increase to call on the PSB to reconsider the project. The Conservation Law Foundation, later joined by other opponents, asked regulators to halt construction until the new cost estimates were evaluated.
The Department of Public Service, which represents ratepayers in utility matters, supported the continuation of the project, saying no parties in the case provided evidence that the new costs would reduce the economic benefits of the project.
Opponents of the natural gas pipeline expansion have said the cost increase does affect how benefits of the project are calculated and criticized analyses of the cost benefits that were performed by Vermont Gas and the Department of Public Service.
“We are extremely disappointed that once again the State of Vermont has given the green light to fossil fuel infrastructure, against the wishes of most Vermonters who want a sustainable future and stable climate,” Maeve McBride of 350 Vermont said in a statement. “The climate crisis is happening now, and we need our political leaders to respond appropriately instead of locking Vermonters into soon-to-be-obsolete fossil fuels.”
The cost of the pipeline will not affect rates for the next rate year, which begins November 1.
Vermont Gas estimates that rates will increase about 3.6 percent in 2015 — assuming the company uses about $15 million it has in a reserve fund designed to smooth the rate impact associated with the project. The rate adjustment will be reviewed by regulators.
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