Thursday, August 14, 2014

Problems with Natural Gas Pipelines

A massive natural gas explosion on Sept. 9, 2010, killed eight people, injured more than 50 others and destroyed or damaged more than 100 homes. On Thursday, PG&E acknowledged an internal memo detailing the possiblity of faulty welds in the pipeline that exploded, years before the incident occurred. (Credit: San Francisco Chronicle) Click to enlarge.
Jumping from the frying pan and into the fire is not helpful when it comes to meeting our region’s energy needs.  In transitioning away from coal and oil, jumping head first into decades-long commitments to natural gas is proving to be both expensive and dangerous.  The exuberance for natural gas is showing some telling tarnish.

The high costs to our climate, our communities and our economy are becoming clearer to more people.

Senator Elizabeth Warren recently penned a strongly worded opinion piece in the Berkshire Eagle, opposing a new pipeline planned to run through Western Massachusetts. She concluded:
Before we sink more money in gas infrastructure, we have an obligation wherever possible to focus our investments on the clean technologies of the future — not the dirty fuels of the past — and to minimize the environmental impact of all our energy infrastructure projects.  We can do better — and we should.
She explained the need to move away from more fossil fuels, stating:
But our aim must be to reduce reliance on carbon based fuels, and that means careful consideration of clean energy alternatives as well as other natural gas pipeline alternatives that do not create wholly new infrastructure. For example, upgrading our old, methane- leaking pipes can help provide affordable power for businesses and consumers without threatening our families and our state.
You can read the full text here.

Last week all the State Senators in Addison County Vermont, penned a similar critique highlighting the many problems of a planned new Vermont Gas Systems pipeline in Western Vermont.  They stated that the projects
… represent not the development of a bridge fuel to move us forward, but more accurately a monumental, $200 million commitment — paid for largely by Vermonters — to remain where we are, consuming fossil fuels.
They encouraged a more careful evaluation of newer and cleaner technologies and of the long term greenhouse gas emissions of the projects.

You can read the full text here.

Problems with Natural Gas Pipelines

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