Gov. Maura Healey is asking the Trump administration to help bring more natural gas into Massachusetts, less than five weeks before voters decide whether she gets a second term.
Healey sent a letter Thursday to Energy Secretary Chris Wright urging federal agencies to move without delay on the Algonquin pipeline expansion known as Project RARE. She asked regulators to set clear schedules and dedicate the staff needed to preserve a 2028 in-service date.
Her office says the project would supply 600,000 customers and cut bills by $40 million a year by displacing imported LNG, with the developer footing the construction costs. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission began its review in February.
It is a sharp turn. As attorney general, Healey opposed new gas pipeline construction. Her letter also cracked open the door to Project Beacon, an Enbridge proposal about four times larger than RARE.
Healey says it is not an about-face, describing an "all-of-the-above" approach to energy.
Republican nominee Mike Minogue has been pressing the opposite case. He has made expanding gas and pipeline access a central pillar of his campaign, criticized offshore wind and argued renewable mandates drive up electric bills. A Fiscal Alliance Foundation study released last week estimated an Algonquin expansion could save ratepayers an average of $367 million each winter.
Healey has also recently embraced a gas tax holiday, an idea Minogue has been pushing.
Her climate allies are not happy. The Conservation Law Foundation called her savings claim a "false narrative," Energy News Beat reported.
Healey still leads, but the margin is closing. A UNH Survey Center poll put her ahead of Minogue 54% to 38%, down six points from earlier in the race. Election Day is Nov. 3.
