Judge rejects Dedham's bid to halt pipeline construction

A federal judge recently tossed Dedham's bid to block construction of a planned natural-gas pipeline, saying the town filed its suit in the wrong court.

Dedham filed a suit in US District Court in Boston seeking to have a judge order a halt in any work until at least after the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission rules on a request from Dedham and Boston to reconsider its March approval of Algonquin Gas Transmission's West Roxbury Lateral Pipeline, which would run from Westwood to West Roxbury.

Boston, meanwhile, is fighting an Algonquin effort to have a judge order the city to let the company dig a trench down Washington Street and Grove Street for the pipeline.

In his order, Judge George O'Toole said a federal natural-gas law prohibits appeals of pipeline approvals in lower courts and that the town should have gone to the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.

Asking him for a temporary restraining order against construction would require him to consider the merits of the commission approval, which the law prohibits, he wrote.

Boston's case is before another judge in US District Court - and was brought by Algonquin.