Gas companies push back against Ehrlich’s proposal

MARBLEHEAD – Rep. Lori Ehrlich, D-Marblehead, may have a fight on her hands, but she may have to wait for the battle.At a hearing of the Joint Committee on Telecommunications and Energy Wednesday at the State House, the state’s natural gas companies say proposed legislation Ehrlich filed to apply more stringent anti-leak regulations to the state’s aging natural gas infrastructure would cost “hundreds of millions of dollars” that would be passed along to ratepayers.Supportive lawmakers said the legislation would help repair gas pipe leaks in the Commonwealth, which Ehrlich estimated at 20,000 and the cause of 8 billion cubic feet of methane released into the atmosphere annually.The bill, put forth last Wednesday with the support of House leaders, would establish a new system of classifying all leaks and force utilities to fix ignored leaks within a set time period. Ehrlich, who represents Marblehead, Swampscott and a portion of Lynn, said the new requirements in the bill would cost an estimated $90 million.Thomas Kiley, president of the Northeast Gas Association trade group, said the cost would likely be far higher and said a provision in the bill adding to gas suppliers’ responsibility for replacing trees destroyed by natural gas leaks would make Massachusetts the only state with such aggressive rules.”Recent explosions and fatalities have shown that it’s a clear public safety hazard but it also causes extensive damage to public and private property,” Ehrlich has said previously. “By not fixing these leaks responsibly, utilities have done nothing more than shift the risk, responsibility and cost burden to ratepayers and taxpayers.”Ehrlich said as it stands right now, utility companies can ignore or indefinitely suspend repairs of many of the leaks because of a faulty gas classification system.Second Assistant House Majority Leader Patricia Haddad spoke in support of the bill, but said she was uncertain whether there was room in the legislative calendar for its passage this year and that it would likely be refiled next session.State House News Service material was used in this report.