Moving Forward

Vermont Gas wants to build more natural gas lines, including one to serve Hinesburg and another that would pass under Lake Champlain to serve International Paper in Ticonderoga, NY. 

Proponents say this is good because:

1. Natural gas is cheap and efficient compared to other fossil fuels saving people money on their energy bills.
2. Natural gas is clean and emits less carbon dioxide (the most abundant man-made greenhouse gas responsible for climate change) when burned.

Opponents say no to natural gas pipelines because:

• It could harm wildlife habitat.
• Natural gas comes from fracking, which  is not regulated in any way by the EPA, pollutes groundwater with carcinogenic and radioactive chemicals,  water flammable, leaks methane (a greenhouse gas much more potent than carbon dioxide) into the atmosphere which cancels out its cleaner burning status, and causes earthquakes.

Natural gas is a fossil fuel. If we are serious about stabilizing our climate we need to move away from fossil fuels quickly.

I recently commented on a newspaper article about the proposed Hinesburg gas pipeline. Nearly every other comment was about price of natural gas vs heating oil for the individual homeowner. Natural gas was preferred because of its low price. Money is, of course, the first concern for everyone. How will I pay for this? But how do you convince people that they need to look beyond their personal circumstances at the larger issue when considering a natural gas pipeline project? 

Money talks the loudest, so maybe you can't discuss it with the average homeowner. But the fossil fuel industry is the “biggest market failure the world has ever seen,” It is a systemic problem, and systemic problems need systemic solutions. Government needs to do more to roll the true costs of fossil fuel into every day expenses. 

There is one local energy company that is heading in the right direction unlike Vermont Gas. The Energy Co-op of Vermont started out as a heating oil delivery company. It is now diversifying its services. They aim to help customers reduce their oil use overall through efficiency measures and transition to using renewable fuels. Now that is what an energy company should do in the face of climate change. Accept reality, then lead the way away from fossil fuels.