A natural gas pipeline company and one of its contractors has agreed to pay $300,000 to settle allegations that they violated Massachusetts environmental protection laws during the construction of a natural gas pipeline in 2017, and another $500,000 to repair a stretch of road damaged during the project, the state attorney general’s office said.
Kinder Morgan subsidiary Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co. damaged a vernal pool and other protected wetland resources areas, degraded water quality in a cold water fishery, and discharged 15,000 gallons of contaminated pipeline test water directly onto the ground during construction of the pipeline through Sandisfield and Otis State Forest, according to a statement Monday from Attorney General Maura Healey.
The construction also led to heavy damage of a four-mile stretch of road in Sandisfield, authorities said.
The $300,000 in fines will go the state’s general fund as well as the state’s Natural Resource Damages Trust.
“Tennessee Gas repeatedly assured the state and Sandisfield residents that water quality and wetlands would be protected during pipeline construction, but they failed to make that happen,” Healey said.
An email seeking comment was left with Kinder Morgan.
Topics Massachusetts Construction
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