Trade group wants halt to natural gas expansion
The trade group representing Connecticut’s home heating oil dealers is renewing its efforts to fight the expansion of the natural gas network in Connecticut.
Chris Herb, president of the Connecticut Energy Marketers Association, sent a letter to Gov. Ned Lamont Tuesday urging that Lamont issue an Executive Order that would bring a halt to all efforts to expand the natural gas distribution network and connecting new residential and industrial customers.
In the letter, Herb cited the explosion of a natural gas pipeline in Massachusetts last year and two additional incidents that occurred last weekend in New York and Rhode Island. A pressure buildup in the natural gas distribution of Columbia Gas caused explosions and fire that impacted 8,600 customers across three eastern Massachusetts communities.
Last year’s Massachussets disaster killed an 18-year-old and injured about two-dozen other people. It also left thousands without heat and hot water, in some cases for months
Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimon-
do declared a state of emergency for the Newport area late Monday after National Grid suspended natural gas service to 7,100 customers due to a pressure problem associated with the Algonquin Pipeline, with is part of the transmission network that brings the fuel into New England.
The natural gas transmission pipeline runs through Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York and New Jersey and is 1,130 miles. It is owned by Enbridge, based in Canada.
Enbridge officials were not immediately available for comment Wednesday.
Herb said Wednesday that he also heard from the Connecticut home heating oil dealers that service residential and commercial customers in New York City and surrounding community that “hundreds of service interruptions” have prompted home owners and business to switch to home heating oil.
“I was trying to loop our new governor in on what has been going on,” Herb said. “This expansion was part of an initiative by the previous governor.”
Lamont’s press office did not respond to a request for comment about Herb’s letter.
The state Public Utilities Regulatory Authority in late 2013 gave the go-ahead for the state’s three natural gas utilities to expand 900 miles of mains to 280,000 customers over a 10-year period.
Herb insisted that he is not trying worry the public unnecessarily.
“The natural gas system is falling apart just over Connecticut’s eastern border in Rhode Island and to its western border in New York, and that is why we are calling on Governor Lamont to take action before it hits home,” he said. “It’s time for the natural gas industry to be transparent and explain what it is going to do to fix these problems.”
Eversource Energy’s natural gas division and two other utilities, Southern Connecticut Natural Gas and Connecticut Natural Gas, are three companies that distribute the fuel to Connecticut consumers.
Orange-based Avangrid is the corporate parent of SCG and CNG as well as
Berkshire Gas. Spanish energy-giant Iberdrola holds a controlling interest in Avangrid.
Natural gas is one of the safest, most efficient and most reliable energy sources available. It’s also cleanburning, convenient and affordable compared with fuel oil, which is why so many Connecticut residents ask for gas when they build new homes or upgrade their heating systems.
Ed Crowder, a spokesman for Avangrid, said “our companies have a decades-long track record serving customers safely and reliably in Connecticut.”
“They know they can count on natural gas being there for them when they need it,” Crowder said. “There’s no need to worry about scheduling delivery trucks, leaky oil tanks or running out during a cold snap. We look forward to making safe, convenient and environmentally friendly natural gas available to more Connecticut homes and businesses in the years ahead.”
Tricia Modifica of Eversource said the public wants natural gas.
“Natural gas is efficient, clean and safe and this call for a moratorium is, unfortunately, more of the oil dealers association’s rhetoric aiming to scare consumers,” Modifica wrote in an email. “The state’s gas expansion program was developed to give Connecticut residents and businesses another fuel choice – which they requested and are embracing as demonstrated by the interest in conversions. While we know more natural gas capacity is needed in this region to ensure fuel security, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve reliability, our gas customers can rest assured we have planned for these types of weather conditions and work to ensure we have ample gas supply even during these record-breaking usage days. As for the Rhode Island incident, we are assisting National Grid in their efforts to get their customers back online and we resent this attempt by CEMA to run another campaign based on inaccuracies.”
Officials with both Avangrid were not immediately available for comment Wednesday.