Summit Natural Gas has abruptly reversed its plans to expand along the Midcoast after the $90 million project was opposed by some residents, lawmakers and environmental activists.
Just last month, the company announced that it would pipe natural gas from Nova Scotia to a corridor along Route 1 from Belfast to Thomaston, in a project that it expected to launch after the summer tourist season.
Summit officials said that the project would have reduced energy costs for residents and businesses and transitioned the region away from dirtier fuel sources such as heating oil, helping the state to meet its emissions reduction goals.
But at a meeting of the Rockland City Council last week, some residents spoke out against it, arguing that the state should be solely focused on developing renewable energy sources to help reduce its carbon emissions, according to the Bangor Daily News. A few state lawmakers from the Midcoast have also opposed the project.
“It’s really unfortunate that an opportunity like this has gone by, but unless there is a willingness and an openness for communities along the way to be able to understand the true vision and opportunity that we’re bringing to a community, we just can’t make these investments,” said Summit spokesperson Liz Reinholt.
Summit announced the decision to withdraw the project on Tuesday in a letter to its shareholders.
An environmental group, Sierra Club Maine, took partial credit for Summit’s reversal on Tuesday. In a statement, the group said that it had rallied Midcoast residents against the project and collected more than 270 signatures on a petition opposing it.
Sara Leighton, director of Sierra Club Maine, said that Summit’s development would have increased the demand for natural gas removed from the earth through an environmentally destructive technique known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.
“While we are pleased that Summit Natural Gas decided to listen to the people of MidCoast Maine, our effort to stop fracked gas does not end here,” Leighton said in the statement.