An Analysis of Municipal Response in MA and NH to the Kinder Morgan NED Project. This study is an effort to list every official action of any municipality in New Hamphsire or Massachusetts which expresses support or opposition to the NED project.

An Analysis of Municipal Response in MA and NH to the Kinder Morgan NED Project by Garth Fletcher, Mason, NH 03048 (em: garth@Mason-NH.org) Evaluating public response to massive projects which have widespread public and private consequences across a large number of communities - such as Kinder Morgans proposed NED project - is of great impor- tance, but performing such an evaluation is complicated. Simply comparing the number of supportive versus opposing comments in the FERC docket can provide some insight, but is not a very robust measure and is subject to valid criticism as being sensitive to bias by prolic writers or well organized letter writing campaigns. Evaluating the quality of those comments - for example giving less weight to simple I love it or I hate it comments and greater weight to longer well reasoned comments or to those from organizations rather than individuals - could improve the measure, but requires extensive analysis and remains very subjective. Furthermore, the above approaches only sample those individuals or organizations which have recorded their comments into the FERC Docket. In researching this topic I have found that a very large portion of municipal comments or actions have never been recorded in the FERC docket. These many comments placed in other media can be difcult to nd or available only to subscribers. Looking at Ofcial Governmental Acts, such as resolutions or ordinances passed by the legislative or executive branches of local governments, provides a much more robust measure. Such actions represent the majority will of the citizens organized as entire municipalities, expressed either directly by the voters themselves or by their elected or appointed representatives, rather than expressions from individuals. Such actions are also part of the public record and thus more readily accessible. Looking at Ofcial Governmental Acts is the approach taken in this report: In my analysis I have only included ofcial governmental actions which clearly expressed support or opposition while leaving out submissions which only expressed concerns or discussed specic issues - the latter being more in the nature of scoping documents highlighting special areas of concern rather than actions clearly indicating community support or opposition.. If I have missed relevant ofcial acts please email details to garth@Mason-NH.org. First a brief explanation for readers not familiar with the nature of local governments in Massachusetts and New Hampshire: With the exception of large cities, most municipalities in the ...