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New England East-West Solution (NEEWS)
Greater Springfield Reliability Project (GSRP)
Project Description
Public Involvement -
Connecticut
Public Involvement -
Massachusetts
Archived Documents
Contact Info
Interstate Reliability Project (Interstate)
Central Connecticut Reliability Project (Central)
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 Public Involvement - Massachusetts
Evidentiary Hearings
Public Comment Hearings
Massachusetts Energy Facilities Siting Board and Department of Public Utilities Petitions
MEPA (Mass. Environmental Policy Act) Filings
Archived Documents
Evidentiary Hearings
The Massachusetts Energy Facilities Siting Board (EFSB) held one day of joint hearings with the Connecticut Siting Council on September 22, 2009, at the Crown Plaza Hotel in Enfield, CT. The EFSB evidentiary hearings recommenced beginning on November 2 and were held as follows:
Monday, November 2
Friday, November 6
Monday, November 9
Tuesday, November 10
Friday, November 13
Tuesday, November 17
Thursday, November 19
Friday, November 20
Monday, November 23
Tuesday, November 24
Tuesday, December 1
Wednesday, December 2
Monday, December 7
Thursday, December 10
Friday, December 11
Tuesday, December 15
Monday, December 21
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Monday, January 11
Friday, January 15
Wednesday, January 20
Friday, January 22
Tuesday, January 26
Thursday, January 28
Friday, January 29
Tuesday, February 2
Tuesday, February 9
Wednesday, February 10
Thursday, February 11
Friday, February 12
Public Comment Hearings
The Massachusetts Energy Facilities Siting Board (EFSB) held three public comment hearings regarding WMECO's petition to build the Greater Springfield Reliability Project. The hearings were held:
Agawam
May 6, 2009 - Wednesday - 7:00 p.m.
Agawam Senior Center, 954 Main Street
Chicopee
May 7, 2009 - Thursday - 7:00 p.m.
Chicopee High School Auditorium, 820 Front Street
Wilbraham
May 13, 2009 - Wednesday - 7:00 p.m.
Wilbraham Middle School, 466 Stony Hill Road
Additional information about the project may be found on this Web page. You may easily access route maps and the EFSB's notice by clicking here.
In addition, the EFSB has requested that the Agawam hearing on May 6 also solicit public comment on a second WMECO project petition. This other project, called the Agawam to West Springfield Circuit Separation Project, proposes the separation of two high-voltage circuits which currently occupy the same towers. The project would improve system reliability by placing each circuit on its own set of structures between the Agawam and West Springfield substations.
Energy Facilities Siting Board and Department of Public Utilities Petitions (Updated)
On October 27, 2008, Western Massachusetts Electric Company (WMECO)
petitioned the Massachusetts Energy Facilities Siting Board (EFSB) and the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities for approval of the construction of the Massachusetts portion of the Greater Springfield Reliability Project (GSRP). On January 9, 2009, WMECO filed a supplement to the original petition. This supplemental filing provides additional alternative route data, as well as updates or corrects items in the petition so that the document is full and current. The files provided below represent the corrected and updated EFSB petition on the Greater Springfield Reliability Project.
The docket number for the EFSB petition is EFSB 08-2. The Department of Public Utilities petitions have docket numbers of DPU 08-105 (Zoning Petition) and DPU 08-106 (Section 72 Petition).
The Greater Springfield Reliability Project (which includes certain segments in Connecticut) involves the construction and operation of new overhead 345-kilovolt (kV) transmission facilities and two new 115-kV switching stations, the modification of existing switching stations and substations, and the re-conductoring and/or re-building of certain existing overhead 115-kV transmission lines in the Massachusetts municipalities of Agawam, Chicopee, Ludlow, Springfield, and West Springfield. The petition also includes an alternate route for the new 345-kV line within the Massachusetts municipalities of Agawam, Longmeadow, East Longmeadow, Hampden, Wilbraham and Ludlow, as well as other potential 115-kV line alternatives.
Please note that volumes containing photographs are quite large and may take a considerable amount of time to download if you are using a 28K or 56K modem.
Energy Facilities Siting Board Petition
Department of Public Utilities Petitions
- Zoning Petition
- Section 72 Petition
MEPA (Mass. Environmental Policy Act) Filings
Expanded Environmental Notification Form
The following documents comprise the Expanded Environmental Notification Form (EENF) filed for the Greater Springfield Reliability Project with the MEPA Office on June 16, 2008. This EENF filing initiated review of the Project under the MEPA process. A Certificate on this EENF was issued by the Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs on August 1, 2008. This Certificate authorized Western Massachusetts Electric Company (WMECO) to prepare and file a Single Environmental Impact Report (SEIR) for the project, and specified the required scope of this report. Following additional consultation with the MEPA Office, WMECO elected to file a Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) rather than a SEIR. The DEIR documents, which were filed with the MEPA Office on December 30, 2008, are provided below.
Final Environmental Impact Report (FEIR)
The following documents comprise the Final Environmental Impact Report (FEIR) filed for the Greater Springfield Reliability Project on November 16, 2009. A Certificate approving the FEIR was issued by the Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs on December 30, 2009. The FEIR followed the Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) filed with MEPA in December 2008 and provided the MEPA Office, participating agencies and other stakeholders:
- A description of project changes since the filing of the DEIR
- An update of WMECO's environmental impact analysis
- The proposed compensatory mitigation program for the Project
- Responses to comments submitted to the MEPA Office during the DEIR review process
- Information that otherwise satisfies the requirements of the MEPA Certificate on the DEIR.
FEIR Recipient Cover Letter  (474KB)
MEPA Cover Letter (522KB)
FEIR Volume 1 (47MB)
Volume 2: Project Route Maps
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