By Dana Fugate
Massachusetts is a national leader in legislating clean energy and climate justice. Unfortunately, the state’s efforts are being thwarted by business-as-usual gas utilities dragging their feet on energy transition while scrambling to expand pipelines and fossil fuel infrastructure. Energy legislation is moving forward in the state legislature, which must pass a final version by July 31. This legislation needs to include language that defines and activates the state’s move away from gas to meet its net zero emissions goals.
In 2021, Massachusetts pledged to reach net zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050, legally mandating a 50% reduction in GHG emissions from 1990 levels by 2030 and a 75% reduction by 2040. Residents suffering from worsening record-breaking climate events—severe storms, flooding, high temperatures—breathed a collective sigh of relief.
Two years later, gas utilities continue to propose pipeline extensions to increase the amount of fossil fuel flowing through and to New England for years to come.
Why the less-than-innovative approach to reducing GHG emissions? Utility companies make their profit from capital investments in infrastructure, like pipelines. They are thus proposing fossil fuel “solutions” for reducing the GHG emissions caused largely by…fossil fuels. The approach is illogical and detrimental to the people of Massachusetts.
Project Maple
One of the latest pipeline expansion proposals is Enbridge’s Project Maple. This 1,100-mile-long natural gas pipeline extension will increase the capacity of the Algonquin Gas Transmission line running through New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts. Project Maple plans to replace existing pipelines, add new secondary pipelines, and expand its compressor stations. Though a federal project, Project Maple will test whether gas utility companies like Eversource and National Grid will connect with the project, expanding their systems. And they haven't indicated anything to make us believe they won't try.
Enbridge uses claims seen across the industry that Project Maple aligns with sustainable energy guidelines because it will help convert oil-using households to natural gas. That’s replacing one fossil fuel with another, still releasing high levels of carbon and methane into the environment. Twenty years ago, that baby-step approach may have been acceptable. However, it is a far cry from the rate of change necessary to reach the mandated 50% reduction in GHG emissions in less than six years.
There are further issues with these expansion projects:
- These are long-term gas infrastructure projects in an industry rapidly evolving to clean energy.
- Customers will pay the fixed costs of the proposed pipeline work, regardless of the amount of fuel used.
- Renters and low-income families will pay an increasing percentage of those fixed costs as wealthier consumers continue their move to electric, solar, and wind energy.
- Customers will continue to pay the variable and volatile costs of gas.
- Money spent on expanding the fossil fuel infrastructure depletes necessary investment in newer, more sustainable energy.
Environmental Injustice
Project Maple and other fossil fuel expansion projects disproportionately impact the environmental justice populations. In July 2023, thanks to strong advocacy from communities in Springfield and Longmeadow, Eversource's Western Massachusetts Gas Reliability Project proposal experienced a setback when its project impact report was sent back for more work. The business-as-usual proposal attracted the ire of Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Rebecca Tepper, who instructed EGMA to conduct more research into viable non-fossil fuel alternatives and engage directly with the Springfield community to understand how the project would impact the population. EGMA’s proposed follow-on expansion to bring more gas to Brockton and Eversource’s subsidiary NSTAR’s “Worcester Feed Line” expansion also target environmental justice communities.
Pipeline projects are disruptive, and the gas flowing through them is a harmful pollutant. Environmental justice populations are not only impacted by the pipeline work running through their communities; they’re projected to be customers of gas utilities longer than the more affluent populations moving to clean energy alternatives. Fossil fuel heating equipment emits nitrogen oxides, a common air pollutant that can directly harm health and contribute to the formation of deadly fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and ozone pollution. In 2022, researchers at Harvard University’s School of Public Health found cancer-causing benzene leaking from gas stoves in the Boston area, even when the appliances were turned off.
Following the passage of the 2050 Roadmap legislation, rather than increased clean energy momentum, we’re seeing fossil fuel expansion requests, including:
- Douglas expansion – Eversource/NSTAR Gas
- LNG liquefaction & trucking facility in Charlton – Northeast Energy Center
- Lowell Modernization, new lateral & meter station – National Grid/Colonial Gas
Climate change is among our most urgent global, national, and local issues. Massachusetts has demonstrated its dedication to sustainability and clean energy. Still, some key players in that change are dragging their feet and continuing to build for a fossil fuel tomorrow. We need to end expansions of the system while also considering and providing for the workers who maintain our pipes.
Join the Sierra Club in telling the Massachusetts legislature to pass a strong and just climate bill in July 2024. This level of legislation will ensure we stay on track to net zero emissions by 2050 and protect our communities from fossil fuels' health and safety impacts.