Is this the best Md. can do?
New natural gas lines may not be the best option in Washington Gas deal
Our view:
Maryland’s Republican governor has taken a succession of actions on climate change that put him in stark contrast to President Donald Trump and many in his party’s leadership. Gov. Larry Hogan pushed to ban hydraulic fracturing for natural gas. He has pledged his support for the Paris Climate Agreements. He opposes off-shore drilling. And he supported higher standards for the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, the market-based program that caps power plant emissions in Maryland and eight other states.
But there have also been limits to the governor’s environmental stewardship, particularly when it runs afoul of his “Maryland is open for business” mantra. Two years ago, Mr. Hogan vetoed legislation that requires energy companies to buy more electricity from renewable sources such a wind and solar. The legislature overrode him. Now, the Hogan administration is championing a $103 million fund to expand natural gas service across Maryland as well as the Potomac Pipeline sought by TransCanada that would run under the Potomac River and C&O Canal near Hancock in Western Maryland.
Environmental groups have charged the governor with blatant hypocrisy because both projects would appear to accommodate fracking in neighboring states. If fracking was judged too hazardous in Maryland, why is buying gas from fracking operations in Pennsylvania or West Virginia much better? What’s especially troubling is the $103 million fund which the Hogan administration has linked to Maryland Public Service Commission approval of the purchase of Washington Gas by Canada-based AltaGas, Ltd. Muchof that fund would likely come from ratepayers (as much as $70 million), not shareholders.
Maryland Environment Secretary Ben Grumbles argues that natural gas is a bridge fuel to cleaner energy in the future, a philosophy that aligns with what the Obama administration espoused as well. Better to put more Marylanders on natural gas than homeheating oil or propane. Andhepoints to the transition in the power sector away from coal and toward natural gas as the chief reason Maryland is on track to make its 2020 goals on reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
He has a point, but those arguments also ignore a couple of realities. First, it appears fracking drill sites are producing more methane leaks than had been acknowledged. A recent analysis by the Environmental Defense Fund found that oil and gas sites in Pennsylvania discharge five times more methane into the atmosphere than previously reported. And because methane (the main component of natural gas) is a more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, these leaks are the equivalent of 11 coal-fired power plants in near-term climate pollution, according to the report.
But even if Mr. Grumbles is correct, why not let AltaGas pay for gas expansion? Why make it part of the PSC settlement? The secretary may argue the environmental benefits of expansion, but there’s an even better environmental use available. Instead of expanding Maryland’s natural gas network, why not repair the existing leaks? That would seem to target two birds with one stone: Not only would ratepayers derive benefit from that spending (the pipes have to be replaced at ratepayer expense eventually anyway), it would reduce greenhouse gas emissions from leaking pipes while potentially reducing the need for fracking because less gas would be wasted.
That would seem to be a better purpose than helping “kick-start a natural gas expansion” throughout Maryland, as the Maryland Energy Administration has touted the proposed AltaGas settlement. Yes, natural gas is better than some other fossil fuel choices under certain circumstances, but it would make more sense to devote resources to a win-win and clean upexisting pipeline before helping a Canadian company expand its service in more rural parts of the state.