Beginning more than a decade ago and wrapping up in 2016, a wide-ranging coalition in western Massachusetts banded together to resist Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co.’s Northeast Energy Direct project, which proposed a pipeline running through eight Franklin County towns.

Those efforts proved fruitful as Kinder Morgan, the parent company of Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co., announced in April 2016 that it had suspended plans for a project that would have had the capacity to move 1.2 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day, citing a lack of customers.

Nine years after celebrations sprang up in the region, many of those original pipeline fighters have joined more than 230 organizations, municipalities, farms and businesses that signed onto an April 8 letter to nine Northeast governors, urging them to stand together and resist any potential future fossil fuel infrastructure projects.

“We really galvanized against it,” said Ben Clark, of Deerfield’s Clarkdale Fruit Farms, which would have been near the proposed pipeline and signed onto the new letter. “It’s good to re-energize and I think people are looking for ways to have their voice heard.”

The letter was sent to Gov. Maura Healey and her five New England counterparts, as well as the governors of New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

“The 233 undersigned organizations ask you, as the leaders of our states,” the letter reads, “to stand united with each other and with us, to protect our hard-fought victories against the expansion of fossil fuel infrastructure and to focus on fulfilling our climate goals.”

The proactive letter — there has been no indication of any potential pipeline activity yet — comes after President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Feb. 14 to establish the National Energy Dominance Council, which would be tasked with advising the president on actions federal agencies can do to increase energy production, including “approving the construction of natural gas pipelines to, or in, New England, California, Alaska and other areas of the country underserved by American natural gas.”

Leading the effort are Stop the Pipeline and the Pipeline Awareness Network for the Northeast (PLAN). Kathryn Eiseman, the president of PLAN and a Cummington resident, said the key to cheaper energy is expanding the number of sources through which Americans get their energy.

“Over-reliance on natural gas makes consumers captive to the fluctuations of commodities markets,” Eiseman said in a news release. “Diversifying our energy resources, particularly by expanding non-commodity based resources such as wind, solar, energy efficiency and other demand-side solutions, is what ultimately can free us from price spikes.”

Eiseman added in an email that national protests, such as the recent Hands Off! demonstrations, are an additional opportunity for people to make their voice heard on pipeline issues.

“Now is the time to stand firm and united against Trump’s many forms of bulldozing over our rights,” Eiseman said. “To stand up for public land, as well as private landowners’ rights, rigorous environmental review, as well as climate goals.”

The main concern comes from comments Trump made about the proposed Constitution Pipeline in New York, which stalled after years of work.

“We are also working on a project that has been under wraps for 20 years,” Trump said after signing the executive order. “Everybody wanted it – it’s been held up by New York. It’s a pipeline that will bring down the energy prices in New York and all of New England by 50, 60, 70%.”

If one pipeline is built, the letter states, then others could easily be on the way.

“We know that if one pipeline gets built, more will be proposed or revived. For example, the Constitution Pipeline would end in Wright, New York, but the existing pipelines at that intersection are already at capacity for much of the year,” the letter states. “That means additional pipelines would be needed to transport Constitution’s gas to either New York City or New England.”

Other Franklin County and North Quabbin groups that have signed onto the letter include, but are not limited to, Ashfield’s Bear River Bee Farm, Greening Greenfield, Indivisible West Quabbin, Northfield’s NatureCulture, the Deerfield Selectboard, the Phillipston Open Space Committee and the Wendell State Forest Alliance.

Mark Burton, the owner of Bear River Bee Farm, said he signed the letter because he was concerned about the last pipeline project proposal to come to the region. He added pipelines are infrastructure that transcend generations, which makes this proactive resistance more important.

“They don’t invest in this infrastructure so they can wind up having it go away in 10 years. These are 50-year, 100-year economic payback periods,” Burton said. “It’s like a forever chemical, it just stays with you.”

With energy prices dropping, both Burton and Clark said they don’t see a need for additional pipeline projects, as the only purpose would be to generate money for a corporation.

“There’s no need for it other than profit,” Clark said. “We’re happy to lend our voice to the fight.”

Chris Larabee can be reached at clarabee@recorder.com.