Big Gas’s claims about a dire need for new gas pipelines in New England are not based in objective fact. As CLF recently noted, electricity prices and demand are down, and we have ample gas available when we need it most. And, more importantly, large batches of clean energy resources will be coming online over the next ten years to further reduce our need for natural gas to power our homes and businesses.
Providing further proof that New England doesn’t need new pipelines, the energy market experts at Synapse Energy Economics recently released a report that details several of these points. They found:
- Clean energy laws and regulations already in place in the New England states will reduce our use of electricity generated with natural gas by 27% over the next six years;
- The full cost of the Access Northeast pipeline would actually be $6.6 billion – more than double the $3.2 billion figure commonly discussed for that project – and paid for by New England businesses and families if the pipeline companies get their way;
- Those businesses and families would be on the hook for an extra $277 million in costs over the lifetime of the pipeline, compared to what they would pay for energy if the pipeline were not built (that’s an extra $141 million just for those in Massachusetts, and $85 million for those in Connecticut); and
- Even outside the realm of power plants and electric generation, the global warming solutions laws and mandates in New England states should reduce our use of natural gas economy-wide by 20% by 2030.
Big Gas is clearly on the ropes in New England, from the evidence piling up against their talking points and the serious momentum behind major new clean energy sources. We aim to keep the pressure on to make sure Big Gas’s big lies continue to be exposed to reality’s hard facts.
