Starting in 2024, a group of 10 Massachusetts communities kickstarted a first-of-a-kind experiment by pledging to go fossil fuel free. But moving off gas for new buildings doesn’t preclude the utilities from needing to spend tens of millions of dollars each year upgrading the existing infrastructure by replacing pipes. This week on The Codcast, CommonWealth Beacon reporters Hallie Claflin and Jordan Wolman discuss Wolman’s latest piece uncovering how gas companies have spent $100 million on natural gas infrastructure in nine of those 10 communities, roughly since they adopted their fossil fuel-free ordinances.
Natural gas
Posted inPolitics
Healey’s reelection bid confronts volatile energy politics
Healey’s shift on climate is now starting to bleed into her campaign for a second term as players across the spectrum are looking to leverage their support in the November election to make gains on their issues.
Posted inOpinion
The state can accelerate the move away from natural gas with one step
The Department of Public Utilities faces a choice: proactively lead the next transition, as it did before, or let gas utilities trap customers in a failing system.
Posted inEnergy
‘Rate shock’: Healey’s affordability push meets a dramatic proposed gas bill hike
Liberty Utilities, which services a small southeastern pocket of Massachusetts, filed its rate hike request in June and is asking the Department of Public Utilities for permission to raise gas rates by about 55 percent on average.
Posted inOpinion
Efficient electric equipment, powered by clean sources, is the answer to the energy affordability crunch
Better equipment and cheaper energy sources are critical to achieving an affordable energy future.
Posted inEnergy
Massachusetts signals new gas customers may soon have to pay full hookup costs
Line extension allowances – which allow gas companies to charge the cost of hooking up new customers to existing ones – may be on their way out in Massachusetts.
Posted inEnergy
In enforcing new climate law, a dispute over the ‘obligation to serve’ natural gas customers
Massachusetts’ 2024 climate law aims to hasten the clean energy transition to meet the state’s climate goals, but a dispute over whether natural gas utility companies have an “obligation to serve” natural gas could stall the transition off of fossil-fuel infrastructure.
Posted inOpinion
Should we limit expansion of natural gas infrastructure in Massachusetts?
The debate boils down to prioritizing tackling climate change or economic growth and energy independence.
Posted inOpinion
A warning about Project Maple
The Canadian fossil fuel corporation erroneously claims New England, New Jersey, and New York need more gas for homes and buildings and to generate electricity.
Posted inOpinion
Skip the quick fixes, pass a comprehensive climate bill
The Senate bill would have empowered the Department of Public Utilities to ensure any gas spending served the public good, and help redirect that funding toward clean energy alternatives if it failed to meet this basic standard.
Posted inEnergy
Suit in works over National Grid methane gas leaks
The Conservation Law Foundation said its lawsuit will be based on data submitted by National Grid to state regulators and the foundation’s own field work testing methane levels in the Boston area.
Posted inOpinion
State’s aging gas infrastructure has to go
The majority of Massachusetts residents — 54 percent — would rather invest in new clean energy infrastructure than patch up the old gas system, according to a new poll commissioned by Rewiring America and Green Energy Consumers Alliance.
Posted inOpinion
The transition away from natural gas has to get started
We tolerated gas explosion risks because we believed gas had lower emissions than other heating options. However, after accounting for methane leaks from the entire gas distribution system, heating with gas is actually worse for the climate than heating with oil or propane.
Posted inEnergy
The case for saving Everett LNG terminal
Now that the Mystic power plant is shutting down, the fear of electricity shortages dissipating, the Everett terminal is being pitched as a hedge against a possible shortage of natural gas for home heating and cooking.
Posted inEnergy
Utilities pursue contracts with Everett LNG terminal
National Grid is seeking state approval to purchase liquefied natural gas from the Everett Marine Terminal over the next six years, a supply arrangement that will drive up the monthly bill of a typical Boston Gas customer during winter months by an average of nearly 1 percent a year.
Posted inOpinion
Finally, natural gas has no future
The future of gas order released here in Massachusetts is just the beginning. We have the opportunity to lead the nation in a just transition away from toxic gas for good.
Posted inUncategorized
Markey, Trahan file pipeline safety bill
THE ANNOUNCEMENT BY Columbia Gas of Massachusetts that it plans to replace hundreds of appliances in homes impacted by the September natural gas explosions in the Merrimack Valley coincides with […]
Posted inThe Download
Markey, Trahan file pipeline safety bill
The announcement by Columbia Gas of Massachusetts that it plans to replace hundreds of appliances in homes impacted by the September natural gas explosions in the Merrimack Valley coincides with […]
Posted inOpinion
Gas hookup moratoriums are not good for any of us
IN A RECENT COMMONWEALTH MAGAZINE op-ed, Kathryn Eiseman argued that moratoriums on gas hookup are a good thing. This demonstrated how short-sighted the opposition to natural gas supply expansion is in Massachusetts. It also fails to […]
Posted inOpinion
More pipelines aren’t the answer
NEW ENGLAND IS in the clutches of a frigid winter. This is putting demands on our energy resources and driving up electricity prices during the few hours of the day […]
Posted inOpinion
Time to revisit the need for more gas pipelines
NEW ENGLAND’S GOVERNORS, who for years called for increasing the delivery capacity of natural gas into the region, have largely gone silent. Today, the region is seeing the consequences with […]
Posted inEnvironment, Transportation
Kinder Morgan’s pipe dream is economic nightmare
THE JANUARY 22 opinion piece (“CLF’s contradictory philosophies”) by Anthony Buxton, an attorney for the energy company Kinder Morgan, argues that the Conservation Law Foundation’s (CLF) policy positions on MBTA […]
Posted inEnvironment, Opinion
Pipeline needed before it’s too late
SOME GAS OPPONENTS appear confused about the synergistic relationship between natural gas and renewables, as well as the climate benefits New England will realize with adequate natural gas pipeline capacity. […]
Posted inEconomy, Environment, Opinion
New England governors should lead region to a sustainable energy future
THIS WEEK THE New England governors will meet in Connecticut to discuss potential solutions to one of our region’s most serious economic challenges: the high cost of electricity and energy. […]
