Senate hearing on Kinder Morgan gas pipeline

State Senate President Pro Tempore Marc R. Pacheco, D-Taunton, has announced that the Senate Committee on Global Warming and Climate Change plans to hold an oversight hearing on the proposed Northeast Energy Direct natural gas pipeline project and the state's clean energy future.

The hearing is scheduled to take place May 3 from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the Massachusetts Statehouse in Room 428.

The committee plans to invite representatives from Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co., the state Department of Public Utilities, and Attorney General Maura Healey's office among others, Pacheco's office said in a prepared statement.

Tennessee, a Kinder Morgan subsidiary, plans a 420-mile pipeline that would transport natural gas from the Marcellus shale fields of Pennsylvania to New England, while cutting through parts of western Massachusetts, the Merrimack Valley and the North Shore.

News of the pipeline oversight hearing comes as the state Legislature prepares to debate an omnibus energy bill. The bill is expected to contain support for large-scale hydropower and offshore wind.

More than 90 lawmakers recently signed a letter opposing any legislative support for natural gas pipelines. Last week Gov. Charlie Baker signed a compromise bill on solar net metering.

[MassLive]