Granite Bridge Pipeline

This article is part of the Global Fossil Infrastructure Tracker, a project of Global Energy Monitor.

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Granite Bridge Pipeline was a proposed natural gas pipeline in New Hampshire.

Location

The pipeline was to have run from Manchester to Exeter, New Hampshire, USA.

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Project Details

• Owner: Liberty Utilities
• Parent Company: Algonquin Power & Utilities Corporation (APUC)
• Proposed capacity:
• Length: 43.5 kilometers / 27 miles
• Status: Cancelled
• Start Year:

Background

The project will connect two other pipelines that run roughly north through Manchester and Exeter. The project has filed with the New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission (NHPUC) and was initially estimated to cost US$340 million.

If approved, the Granite Bridge liquefied natural gas pipeline along Route 101 would be the first of its kind to utilize the state’s designated Energy Infrastructure Corridors. The Energy Infrastructure Corridors were designed to keep public utilities projects entirely within state-owned rights-of-way to minimize impact to abutters, scenic areas of the state, and lessen the likelihood of the state having to use eminent domain. The proposed underground 27-mile, 16-inch diameter pipeline from Manchester to Exeter would be constructed and operated by Liberty Utilities (LU). Its application was before the state Public Utilities Commission as of March 2019.

New Hampshire’s Energy Infrastructure Corridors were established in a 2016 bill signed into law by then-Gov. Maggie Hassan. It allows public utilities to build infrastructure projects on state-owned property on major rights-of-way. Designated corridors are Route 101 between Interstate 93 and 95; I-95 between the Massachusetts and Maine borders; I-89 from the I-93 interchange to the Vermont border, and all of I-93, excluding the 1.7 miles through the White Mountain National Forest.

As of July 2019, the project was still being reviewed by the New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission (NHPUC). When Democratic presidential candidate Jay Inslee visited New Hampshire in July, he expressed his opposition to the pipeline and praised local organizations such as Citizens for Local Control, ECHO Action, and 350 New Hampshire for their work against the pipeline.

Consultants hired by NHPUC testified in September of 2019 against the commision approving of the Granite Bridge gas pipeline, saying that LU had not done enough analysis to demonstrate it was the best option for meeting future energy needs. LU estimated that the pipeline will cost $414 million.

Project cancelled

In July 2020, Liberty Utilities announced that it was dropping its plans to build the new pipeline and will instead look to sign a 20-year contract to run its gas to new and existing customers via the existing Concord Lateral pipeline in New Hampshire. Further hearings and negotiations on the new version of the project will be required.