Governor Maura Healey is pushing federal regulators to move quickly on a project that would boost the capacity of an existing natural gas pipeline feeding Massachusetts, as the state tries to tame some of the highest energy costs in the country. The pipeline in question, the Algonquin Gas Transmission system, stretches 1,131 miles from New Jersey through Connecticut before splitting in Massachusetts and continuing on to Boston and the South Coast.
According to MassLive, Healey sent a letter to U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright asking the federal government to keep the project on track while Massachusetts moves forward with its own review. The pipeline is operated by Enbridge, which has formally entered the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's pre-filing environmental review process for what it calls the AGT Enhancement project. FERC approved Algonquin Gas Transmission's request to begin that pre-filing review in February under Docket No. PF26-7-000, a step that precedes a formal application and kicks off environmental impact analysis.
Enbridge has described its own project as the Algonquin Reliable Affordable Resilient Enhancement, targeting 75 million cubic feet per day of additional firm natural gas capacity with a target in-service date of late 2028, the company says. Healey's letter, per the same MassLive report, noted that she and Wright share a desire to get more U.S. natural gas into New England to cut reliance on higher-cost imported fuel and lower customer costs.
A Deal Already Locked In With Eversource
The push for federal speed follows action already taken at the state level. The Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities formally approved Eversource's 10-year natural gas supply contract on January 30, a deal that, according to the Massachusetts government, will lower heating bills for more than 600,000 gas customers while requiring Enbridge to cover the infrastructure's capital costs. The pipeline expansion is expected to save those 600,000 Eversource gas customers about $40 million a year, per MassLive.
Eversource's underlying petitions, filed with state regulators in September 2025, detailed plans to purchase a combined 30,000 dekatherms per day across two gas subsidiaries to serve delivery points in South Attleboro, Taunton, and New Bedford. Those petitions were filed under DPU Dockets 25-133 and 25-134. Healey has said the added capacity, combined with other recent expansions, would have provided enough gas on the line to meet total household heating needs this past January.
Why New England Leans So Heavily on Imported Fuel
Part of the urgency stems from New England's unusual dependence on imported liquefied natural gas and fuel oil during severe winter cold snaps, since interstate pipelines feeding the region from the south and west routinely run at maximum capacity, according to Consumers for Climate. The pipeline expansion is expected to reduce reliance on imported LNG from a facility in Everett. That facility, the Everett Marine Terminal, continues operating under six-year utility contracts through winter 2029–2030 even after Constellation Energy retired the adjacent 1,413-megawatt Mystic Generating Station in May 2024, per the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
The physical work on Enbridge's project is largely confined to upgrading infrastructure already in place rather than laying new pipe. The company has proposed replacing more than 8 miles of 16-inch-diameter pipeline in Norfolk and Worcester counties, along with pipeline sections in Rhode Island and upgrades to a compressor station in Connecticut, per MassLive. Enbridge's own project filings describe replacing 8.25 miles of 16-inch pipeline across Norfolk and Worcester counties in Massachusetts and Providence County in Rhode Island, plus extending a 12-inch line by 2.2 miles in Newport County, Rhode Island, with construction scheduled for 2028 pending federal permits.
A Smaller Project After Bigger Fights
Enbridge's current proposal is a scaled-back version of a much larger expansion once floated under the name Project Maple, introduced in late 2023 to add up to 750,000 dekatherms daily before it drew heavy environmental pushback, according to CommonWealth Beacon. That opposition pushed Enbridge toward smaller, incremental upgrades instead of one sweeping buildout.
The financing structure behind the current project traces back to a 2016 Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruling that blocked electric utilities from charging electric ratepayers to finance natural gas pipeline construction. That decision, reported by Utility Dive, forced Enbridge, Eversource, and National Grid to cancel their planned $3 billion Access Northeast pipeline in 2017. Because of that precedent, Enbridge must now finance its own infrastructure upgrades while gas utilities like Eversource commit separately to long-term purchase agreements.
Healey Frames Pipeline as Part of Broader Energy Strategy
Healey has described her outreach to federal officials as part of an all-of-the-above approach to bringing more energy into the region, saying she continues to support solar and wind projects alongside the pipeline expansion. She has said she will keep opposing utility efforts to raise rates while backing energy projects that represent good deals for Massachusetts residents, according to MassLive.
A September 2026 study by the Fiscal Alliance Foundation estimated that expanding the Algonquin Gas Transmission system by 300 million cubic feet per day could save Massachusetts ratepayers $367 million per winter and cut regional fuel oil consumption by 8.4 million gallons. For now, the project's path forward hinges on how FERC's environmental review under Docket PF26-7-000 unfolds, and whether environmental advocates mount legal challenges against the incremental pipeline replacements remains an open question.
