After some confusion, town officials and the national energy company behind a regional gas pipeline expansion are in agreement: The project won't include Walpole.
As of last week, Spectra Energy, which is increasing the capacity of a regional gas pipeline by 50 percent, said the East and West Expansion project is not going to include Walpole. Town officials had thought the job might involve putting a bigger gas line in town.
By Monday night, Town Administrator Michael Boynton said he had talked with the Boston law firm representing Spectra Energy, and he was assured there will be no expansion through Walpole.
The confusion arose, said Assistant Town Administrator Jim Johnson, because Spectra's lawyers continued to send the town material regarding the project. The correspondence continued because Spectra is considering putting two pipe yards - areas used to store pipes during construction - in town.
If selected, these sites would be leased from the landowner, said Marylee Hanley, Spectra's manager of government and public affairs.
The original plan did include a section cutting through Walpole, Hanley noted, but after one of the natural gas shippers pulled out of the deal, the company reduced the scale of what was originally a 30-mile plan to about 20 miles.
Now that the expansion will skip Walpole, the town will miss out on mitigation funds from the company for streets or other town-owned properties that might have been disturbed by the project.
The East to West Expansion Project is intended to provide increased natural gas supplies and better system reliability to New England's customers and distributors, according to Spectra.
Jeb Bobseine can be reached at jeb@walpoletimes.com or 508-668-0243, ext. 13.
