For three years now, Big Gas has been spinning tall tales aimed at scaring you and me – and especially our local politicans – into locking in our addiction to dirty, polluting natural gas for decades to come. But their hype ignores the facts and the very real progress made over the past few years to avoid price spikes, keep the lights on, and tamp down our emissions of climate-damaging pollution.
Late in the afternoon on Friday, January 13, just before the start of the long MLK holiday weekend, National Grid quietly filed a letter with the Rhode Island Public Utilities Commission (PUC) asking the PUC to close Docket # 4627. This is the Docket that would have allowed National Grid to contract for a portion… Continue reading CLF Defeats Gas Pipeline Proposal in Rhode Island PUC
Transforming New England’s Energy System New England’s coal-fired power plants were at their peak when CLF opened its doors 50 years ago. The majority of the region’s coal fleet came online in the post-war boom years of the1950s and 1960s and they would go on to dominate our region’s electricity mix for decades. Today, however,… Continue reading Going Low-Carb
… What has happened to the Maine Public Utilities Commission? It used to be a respite from politics, relying on a strong staff, expert opinion and transparent analysis to guide Maine’s energy policy. But recent decisions show that our current PUC has little regard for its staff or the opinions of the expert consultants it… Continue reading Maine Voices: PUC, LePage Spurn Consumers While Granting Gas Industry’s Pipe Dream
… “I think that just goes to show that this paper is looking at the beginning of the problem and there are even more impactful pipeline expansions across the country,” said Caitlin Peale Sloan, an attorney with Massachusetts based environmental advocacy group Conservation Law Foundation. Sloan said increasing natural gas capacity conflicts with state legislation… Continue reading Pipeline Expansion Threatens U.S. Climate Goals, Study Says
… But the Conservation Law Foundation says that solar power and energy efficiency can cover the region’s projected needs in the future and that Invenergy’s cost analysis grossly overestimates its benefits. The environmental group says the savings could be closer to zero. “[Invenergy] is making an assumption, unsupported by any evidence and highly improbable at… Continue reading PUC To Hear Testimony This Week On Proposed Burrillville Power Plant
… Conservation Law Foundation attorney Ben Tettlebaum joins the Beacon podcast this week to discuss the decision by the members of the Maine Public Utilities Commission to ignore the recommendations of their own staff and potentially allow fossil fuel companies to bankroll a new, risky gas pipeline with public funds. “The fossil fuel industry hoodwinked the PUC… Continue reading The Risky Natural Gas Pipeline Mainers Don’t Know They’re On The Hook For
… Attorneys who have represented opponents in years-long litigation associated with the pipeline say this represents a pattern of behavior. Sandra Levine, a senior attorney with the Conservation Law Foundation, said the company could have avoided destruction of the endangered plants if it had conducted a proper evaluation of the construction site ahead of time.… Continue reading Vermont Gas Unfazed By Latest Obstacles
… That’s because the Conservation Law Foundation has argued that the state doesn’t have legislation authorizing one. “If Massachusetts cannot move forward than that presents a substantial obstacle to Maine actually going forward with the contract because they constitute a significant portion of the load in the region,” Tettlebaum says. Read more here…
… Count the Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) among those that don’t believe the hype about the region’s need for more natural gas. The two major arguments used by Invenergy in support of its plan to build a power plant in Burriliville are that the plant is needed for the reliability of the electricity grid and to save… Continue reading Politicians, Energy Companies Just Want You to Trust Them
