At the most recent Town Council meeting, on July 16, the Council welcomed a representative from Liberty Utilities to give a presentation on their new energy infrastructure project. The Liberty Utilities headquarters is located in Londonderry on Buttrick Road. The project was originally announced in December of 2017 and is referred to as “The Granite Bridge” project. The Granite Bridge is a $340 million natural gas pipeline and storage project that is designed to serve the residents and businesses across the state of New Hampshire.
According to the presentation, there will be two components to the project, one is a pipeline and the other is a storage facility. The pipeline would be 27 miles long between Stratham and Manchester and the storage facility would be located on 140 acres of land in Epping that is adjacent to Route 101.
The issue going forward for Liberty Utilities is that the Concord Lateral pipeline, which provides natural gas to southern and central New Hampshire, is at capacity. For Liberty Utilities to be able to continue to provide natural gas services to residents of Londonderry, new infrastructure is needed. The project will also only take place in the state of New Hampshire and will not be necessary to travel across state lines, according to the presentation.
The Liberty Utilities company has also made a pledge for safety and the Granite Bridge has been designed to accomplish the highest level of safety possible for residents in the area and the workers involved. This project is scheduled to run from now to 2022 with a two year construction of the pipeline and a three year construction for the storage facility. Although none of the construction will take place in the town of Londonderry, the company felt it appropriate to meet with the Town Council to get their approval on the project.
If anyone would like further information on what the project is or have any general questions, they are encouraged to visit their official website: www. granitebridgenh.com, send questions via email to info@granitebridgenh.com or call the number 603-216-3653 for additional information.
The Town Council had a few questions including the importing of liquefied natural gas from ships and how many jobs will be created for this project. According to the representative from Liberty Utilities, there are no future plans to take deliveries of liquefied natural gas from ships from the New Hampshire Seacoast. Once the project is underway, Liberty Utilities is estimating about 330 full-time construction positions over the three-year period. No further action was needed to be taken by the Council after the presentation was complete and the representative was thanked for his presentation on providing more information on this project to the residents of Londonderry.