Pipelines pinched: Despite highest costs in US, Northeast resists natural gas expansion

Most people agree the Northeast must expand its energy supply to trim the nation's highest costs and natural gas could be at least a short-term answer.

Still, there is loud opposition to building or expanding pipelines here.

Last year, a Massachusetts route selected by Texas-based Kinder Morgan generated so much venom that the company moved it to New Hampshire — where it's also generating plenty of venom.

That line is one of about 20 pipeline projects being proposed throughout the Northeast, where savvy environmental and political forces combine with population density to provide formidable opposition. The lines are in a region looking to tap the gas-rich Marcellus Shale formation.

There are times that the region pays up to three times more for natural gas than other parts of the country.