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Date: 12/21/2022
LONGMEADOW – The School Committee approved a letter on Dec. 13 to be submitted to the Energy Facility Siting Board (EFSB) regarding the Eversource metering station and pipeline proposed for Longmeadow.
In the letter, the School Committee stated it “supports the Select Board’s opposition” to the Eversource project, known as the Western Mass Natural Gas Reliability Project. The board is “particularly worried” about “short- and long-term impacts” on Wolf Swamp Road School, an elementary school with 444 students and 79 educators and staff. Specifically cited were concerns about traffic and construction issues, as well as “possible emissions” and “pipeline safety.”
School Committee member Jaime Hensch said the pipes in town are from 1974 and that pipes of a similar age and type have exploded in the Merrimac Valley and in California in recent years. He asked about alternatives. Fellow School Committee member Kevin Shea said the project was not replacing pipes, but instead an “expansion.”
Eversource has billed the Western Mass Natural Gas Reliability Project as a backup, rather than an expansion. While it would not replace existing gas lines, it would serve as an alternate route for the gas to travel should something happen to the Julia B. Buxton Bridge, also known as the South End Bridge in Agawam, under which gas lines currently run. Shea noted that Eversource has been replacing mains and pipes as needed in Longmeadow, but that is a separate project from the Western Mass Natural Gas Reliability Project.
School Committee Chair Nicole Choiniere said two of the main arguments against the project are that there has not been a “demonstrated need” for the project and that new natural gas infrastructure flies in the face of the state’s Clean Energy and Climate Plan for 2025 and 2030. Choiniere said she would attend the EFSB hearing on the topic that was scheduled for the following evening.
Capital projects
Assistant Superintendent for Finance and Operations Thomas Mazza said three of the district’s capital projects – the playground upgrades, Wolf Swamp Road School vestibule and interior and exterior locks for the district – were included on the list of recommended projects Town Manager Lyn Simmons sent to the Capital Planning Committee.