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Date: 2/22/2022
HOLYOKE – In January 2019, the city of Holyoke imposed a natural gas moratorium on all requests for increased or new natural gas service. Since then, the moratorium has had negative effects on the community’s residents, economic development and energy conservation.
Holyoke Gas and Electric customers are served by Tennessee Gas Pipeline’s Northampton Lateral. This pipeline has become severely constrained over the last two decades due to an increase in demand.
Several other towns such as Easthampton and Northampton are also served by the pipeline and have been forced to impose a natural gas moratorium due to this capacity overload.
“The Northampton Lateral has been constrained for some time. Towns north of Holyoke have had moratoriums in place since as early as 2014. Holyoke’s demand for gas continued to grow every year, so in 2019 Holyoke Gas and Electric imposed a moratorium on new connections to the gas distribution system because the demand for natural gas outpaced our ability to deliver any more natural gas to the pipeline,” said Holyoke Gas & Electric Manager James Lavelle.
Since the 2019 moratorium was imposed, there have been no corresponding increases in pipeline capacity to deliver additional supply to the region. Holyoke continues to look for solutions and ways to lift the moratorium, according to Lavelle. However, at this time, the moratorium remains in place indefinitely.
Lavelle said that since 2019, Holyoke Gas & Electric has had numerous requests for additional service that they have had to deny.
“It’s not a good situation. We’re in the natural gas business, we like to sell natural gas and people like to use natural gas for heating and cooking and it’s better than some of the alternatives that people are having to go to, specifically oil and propane, which are heavier carbon emitters than natural gas,” he said.
These natural gas alternatives are not only worse for the environment but are also more costly for residents, according to Lavelle.
Another negative impact of the moratorium has been on economic development opportunities in the city.
“What we’re seeing, unfortunately, is an adverse impact to economic development because certain commercial prospects that would be looking for or need natural gas and we can’t give it to them go to other communities,” said Lavelle.
He estimates that the amount of investment lost in Holyoke due to this moratorium is upwards of $300,000.
“It’s hard to quantify the commercial opportunities that we’ve lost. We know, anecdotally, of at least a handful of prospects that haven’t locked in possibly due to natural gas and a handful of other reasons as well. I think just when we look at the denials that we’ve had to render, just the distribution revenue that we would get alone is probably $300,000 to $350,000 a year,” said Lavelle. “It’s just another reason that prompts us to try and find a solution here.”
Newly elected Mayor Joshua Garcia also has concerns with the moratorium and emphasized that he will be working toward solutions with his administration and Holyoke Gas & Electric.
“The desire of this administration is no different than the desire of Holyoke Gas & Electric to do what we can to improve this so that there is no longer a moratorium,” said Garcia. “It all comes down to supply and demand and Gas & Electric are doing anything and everything they can to help with that so that we can advance our economic development goals for the City of Holyoke. That’s where we are currently. I wish there was a way we can just simply lift it and move things quicker, but unfortunately there are circumstances out there at play and the professionals at Gas & Electric are all over it doing what they can so that we can move forward.”
Despite the bleak outlook, Lavelle said that the city does have plans of attack to lift the moratorium when possible. He said that since it was enacted, Holyoke Gas & Electric has been looking at opportunities to reduce demand and encouraging customers to convert to electric heating where possible.
“We will continue to promote conservation and also continue to look at supply. We did have a solution with Columbia Gas a few years ago where we were working with them to bring additional pipeline capacity, but that project is on the shelf right now as Eversource has taken over Columbia Gas and they’re busy with the Greater Springfield Reliability Project,” said Lavelle.
He noted that when the project is complete, there is a potential that they can bring solutions back on the table and get traction from there.
“We’ll continue to look at both demand reduction and opportunities to bring more supply to the city,” he added.
Many residents have expressed their disappointment with the moratorium over the years. Lavelle said that most community members would like to see it lifted and that Holyoke Gas & Electric understands their frustration.
“It’s not a good situation. You have people who want to connect to natural gas for obvious reasons and when we can’t connect them to the system it’s not well-received and we can understand that,” he said.
For now, the city continues to think through possible solutions.
Those who have questions or concerns can contact Lavelle, Gas Superintendent Jim Roy or the Mayor’s Office.
More information and any updates on the moratorium are available on the Holyoke Gas & Electric website at www.hged.com.
“We’ll continue to keep our constituents updated through that. The Mayor’s Office has been very helpful as well in getting the message and facts out to people, so we’ll continue to work with the Mayor and his team,” said Lavelle.