RENEWABLE ENERGY and natural gas aren’t an “either/or” choice for New England: Now and for years to come, they’re a “both/and” necessity to ensure we have a reliable, affordable energy system our six states can count on. That’s one of the critical takeaways from the newest edition of the most authoritative biennial assessment of New […]
Steve Dodge
Posted inOpinion
A fracking ban is hypocritical
MEANINGLESS, hypocritical political grandstanding. Those are words no one should ever use lightly – but they are words that accurately describe a provision of Massachusetts energy legislation now pending on Beacon Hill that calls for a 10-year moratorium on the production of natural gas anywhere in the Bay State through “fracking,” or hydraulic fracturing. Originating […]
Posted inOpinion
Fears about blackouts increasing
THREE MONTHS AGO, the organization that runs our New England power grid sounded a shocking alarm: Our region faces a possibility of forced, rolling wintertime blackouts in coming years, largely because of unrelenting opposition to sensible, long-overdue expansion of our natural gas supply infrastructure. As we said then, forced blackouts are completely unacceptable, something you’d associate […]
Posted inOpinion
The terrible price of inaction
THIS WEEK NEW ENGLAND reached the terrible distinction of having the most expensive natural gas in the world. You read that correctly: Not just the highest natural gas prices in the United States, or in North America, but on the entire planet. When the spot-market price for natural gas hit $35.35 Tuesday at the main […]
Posted inEnvironment, Opinion
Brayton Pt closing ups need for gas
AS BADLY AS ALL OF US in Massachusetts have been needing improved access to natural gas, Wednesday at midnight our need–and the challenge to our economy and energy security–grow even more critical. The reason? Wednesday at midnight is when the giant, coal-powered Brayton Point electric generating station in Somerset, Massachusetts, shuts down for good. For […]
Posted inEnvironment, Politics
Natural gas shouldn’t be the boogie man
IT’S IRONIC THAT SEVERAL DAYS after Emily Norton’s op-ed in CommonWealth (“Kill the Northeast pipeline“), the Department of Environmental Protectiion announced that greenhouse gas emissions in Massachusetts decreased from 2013 to 2014, continuing a downward trend that began nearly a decade ago. Why are greenhouse gases down? Why do state officials say Massachusetts is on-track to […]
Posted inEnvironment
Pipeline tariff is not a tax
SEVEN OF THE TOP 10 most expensive states for electricity costs are in the Northeast, including Massachusetts. We pay the sixth-highest retail electricity prices in the nation – almost 50 percent above the national average. With ample natural gas supplies only a day’s drive away in Pennsylvania, why are Massachusetts and our New England neighbors […]