END OF THE (PIPE) LINE FOR GAS?

Last week, three high-profile fossil fuel pipelines were handed major defeats in what many climate activists say is a turning point in their fight for clean energy. 

1. The Atlantic Coast Pipeline project, a huge fracked gas operation, was finally abandoned by its own developers as too costly in the face of six years of legal challenges and protests;
   
   
2. The infamous Dakota Access pipeline, fought against for many years by the indigenous peoples whose land and water it crosses and pollutes, was ordered shut down and drained by a federal court until litigation is settled;
    
3. The Keystone XL pipeline construction is again delayed, as the Supreme Court denied an emergency bid by its owner and the Trump administration.

And here in Massachusetts,  Attorney General Maura Healey has asked the Administration to assess the future of the gas industry in the Commonwealth, in light of our legally binding statewide mandate of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. 

In addition to the climate damage caused by fracked gas, there are also substantial health risks associated with it: in the water at the source of fracking, from the leaking pipelines in our communities and from the methane leaking into our homes.  There are also the economic costs:  According to one Applied Economics Clinic brief, the cost of replacing leaky pipes will be $17 billion. At current payment rates, it would take over 100 years to pay this back.   And then there are the explosions...

There is nothing natural about fracked gas.  To learn more, we encourage you to attend one of the following webinars:

• Health Effects of Gas Stoves Webinar: July 23rd @10am - Andee Krasner (GBPSR) and Brady Seals (RMI) Register Here
• July 23rd (3-4 pm EDT): Webinar on Renewable Solutions: Geothermal Energy and a Just Transition
  This webinar, hosted by ICCR, will explore geothermal energy with speakers from HEET, the United Steelworkers, the Merrimack Valley Coalition Friends Fiduciary and CERES. Registration link available here.
  
  

For more information about gas, email info@SustaianbleWellesley.com.

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