No Pipeline Expansion
(NOPE) Northeast
Are you a community member, advocate, or organization in the Northeast? Join our coalition to start fighting the expansion of fossil fuels across our region.
Reach out to sena.wazer@sierraclub.org
with questions.
Resources
Who We Are
No Pipeline Expansion (NOPE) Northeast, formerly the Stop Project Maple Coalition, is a multi-state coalition of 100+ community organizations opposed to gas pipeline expansion projects in the Northeast.
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Our Work
Across the Northeast, fossil fuel companies are proposing costly and polluting fossil fuel expansions, which are harming the health of our communities, driving climate change, and costing ratepayers. Under the Trump Administration, these harmful projects have only escalated, but our states are doing little to oppose them. We're here to change that.
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NOPE Northeast originally formed to oppose Project Maple, which was the proposed expansion of an Enbridge-owned gas pipeline in New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts. Since then, the scope of our work has expanded to include other expansions of pipelines and related infrastructure impacting our region. These include new compressor stations proposed by TC Energy in New York and Connecticut, as well as opposition to state collaboration with the Trump administration on expanding gas infrastructure such as the cancelled Constitution Pipeline.
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Stop Gas Expansion
Fossil fuel projects that the coalition is opposing include projects across Connecticut, New York, Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
Connecticut
Brookfield
The fossil fuel company, TC Energy, is proposing to double the size of a compressor station located 1900 feet from Brookfield's middle school. Compressor stations release methane and other toxic air pollutants into the community, and pose a risk of explosion. If approved, this expansion will allow more methane, which we don't need, to flow through the whole region, including in both New York and Connecticut. For recent information please check out this blog post.
Hartford
The Connecticut Department of Administrative Services has given tentative approval for the Capitol Area System to be updated with fossil fuels, even though geothermal energy is a viable option. This decision would sacrifice the health and wellbeing of Hartford residents in favor of more profits for fossil fuel companies. Read more about the opposition campaign by local residents here.
Connecticut River
Eversource proposed a new gas pipeline (Southeast Resilience Project) under the Connecticut River in Middletown to interconnect and expand their gas infrastructure. Eversource filed this proposal with the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. This expansion would cost ratepayers while harming the ecosystem. More information is available here.
Norwich
The Norwich Public Utilities has stated their plan to pursue increased gas capacity from the expansion of the Enbridge AGT pipeline. If moved forward this would increase pollution and climate change and prices for utility customers, even while renewables are a clean and cost effective solution.
Massachusetts
Weymouth
Fore River Residents Against Compressor Station (FRRACS) has been fighting to shut down the carcinogenic Enbridge compressor station in Weymouth, MA for 10 years, due to the health, safety, environmental and economic impacts of the station. FRRACS continues the legal fight with an appeal of the MA Department of Environmental Protection Waterways permit to Enbridge which is now in MA Superior Court. More information about the compressor station and its impacts, as well as how to get involved in this work are available here.
AGT RARE Pipeline Expansion
Enbridge announced a gas pipeline expansion called “Project Maple” in 2023. Over a year into trying to secure more utility customers for the gas, they scaled the project down and renamed it “Reliable Affordable Resilient Enhancement” (RARE). Before shifting to the smaller project, Enbridge built new infrastructure under old permits, including a new metering and regulating station in Coventry, CT; an enlarged metering & regulation station in Lincoln, MA; & doubled the size of the pipeline under the Sakonnet River, RI. ​
Breaking up a project into smaller pieces is referred to as “segmentation,” and deemed illegal by the Supreme Court, yet protests about this were disregarded by FERC.
The current proposal will add 75 million cubic feet of gas per day and enlarge pipelines in Mendon, Bellingham, Franklin and Wrentham, Massachusetts and in Cumberland, Little Compton, Tiverton and Burrillville, Rhode Island, which will add pollution, harm communities, and tie our states to fossil fuels.
Cape Cod Canal Pipeline Replacement
Due to Massachusetts Department of Transportation work on the Sagamore and Bourne bridges crossing the Cape Cod Canal, the bridges will no longer be able to host the old National Grid gas pipelines that are attached to the Enbridge gas transmission line. In this replacement project, the Enbridge pipelines will now cross under the Cape Cod Canal, installed via horizontal directional drilling, which can have extremely damaging environmental impacts. To comply with Massachusetts climate laws, this project should not include an expansion of pipeline capacity, yet the plan is to replace 10″ pipeline with 16″ and 18″ pipeline at a higher pressure (750 psig instead of 270), which will add more fossil fuels and emissions. This project is currently moving through the permitting process.
Western MA Gas Reliability Project
Eversource has proposed the Western MA Natural Gas Reliability Project. This is a duplication project, which seeks to provide "system redundancy." Eversource plans to connect to the Kinder Morgan TGP pipeline through building a new metering and regulating station in Longmeadow, and then building a pipeline to Springfield, which would terminate at the Bliss Street Station on the Connecticut River. This new pipeline would duplicate delivery to gas customers in Agawam, West Springfield, Southwick, Chicopee, and Springfield.
Rhode Island
AGT RARE Pipeline Expansion
The current proposal will add 75 million cubic feet of gas per day and enlarge pipelines in Mendon, Bellingham, Franklin and Wrentham, Massachusetts and in Cumberland, Little Compton, Tiverton and Burrillville, Rhode Island, which will add pollution, harm communities, and tie our states to fossil fuels. [See Massachusetts for full description]
Proposed Gas Moratorium on Aquidneck Island
The Rhode Island Energy Facilities Siting Board has proposed a possible gas moratorium for Aquidneck Island. In response, two towns of Aquidneck Island, Portsmouth and Middletown, both passed resolutions opposing a gas moratorium on Aquidneck Island. Newport City Council is currently considering a gas moratorium resolution which will be explored at a workshop in October of 2025.
New York
Constitution Pipeline
The Constitution Pipeline is proposed by the fossil fuel company Williams. The pipeline would run from Pennsylvania to Schoharie County, New York, where it connects to other pipelines running all the way North to Canada, as well as throughout the Northeast. This massive project was previously halted by New York, but has been revived under the Trump Administration, even though it is costly, polluting, and unneeded.
NESE Pipeline
Proposed by the same company as the Constitution Pipeline, Williams, the Northeast Supply Enhancement (NESE) Pipeline would bring methane gas from Pennsylvania to Staten Island, New York. This expansion has been vehemently opposed by many in the community because of the amount of fossil fuels it would bring into New York, the impact on the seabed ecosystem and release of pollution in the sediment, and impact on air quality and health.
WIN: 8 towns pass resolutions opposing pipeline expansion
New York communities, including the City of Peekskill, Village of Hastings-on-Hudson, Town of Ossining, Village of Ossining, Village of Croton-on-Hudson, Rockland County, Village of Tarrytown, and Town of North Salem, have passed resolutions in opposition to the expansion of fossil fuel infrastructure. These resolutions oppose the expansion of the Enbridge AGT, the Williams Constitution, and the NESE pipelines due to their negative health, climate, and cost impacts.