Sustainable Arlington

presents documented incidents and publicly available facts about the gas distribution system that add up to an urgent message to legislators, the executive branch, municipalities, and gas companies to take action now. Immediate and short-term improvements can greatly enhance public safety. At the same time, Massachusetts can accelerate measures to transition away from gas to safer, healthier, affordable renewable energy.

Published by GasLeaksAllies.org, 9.13.19.

Let your State Sen. and Rep. know (by June 2020) if you support this act.

An Act For Utility Transition to Using Renewable Energy (F.U.T.U.R.E.)

The GasLeaksAllies.org outline a safe, just transition that moves Massachusetts utilities off gas in alignment with our state’s mandated greenhouse gas reduction targets. 

Sponsors: Senator Cynthia Creem (1st Middlesex and Norfolk), Representative Lori Ehrlich (8th Essex), and Representative Christina Minicucci (14th Essex)

McKibben calls methane " CO2’s nasty little brother."   Unfortunately, "our new natural-gas infrastructure has been bleeding methane into the atmosphere in record quantities. And molecule for molecule, this unburned methane is much, much more efficient at trapping heat than carbon dioxide."  All that extra methane going into the atmosphere is offsetting many of the gains made by cutting carbon dioxide emissions.

...gas pipeline project (Spectra Energy’s Access Northeast pipeline). ... this project is likely to be twice as expensive as previously proposed ($6b v. $3b), and the need for natural gas will fall in the future due to the environmental and renewable energy policies in New England. Therefore, the study concludes, this gas pipeline project is not needed.

Air Quality Permit Appeal

Dept. of Environmental Protection, 1 Winter St., Boston, MA

[updates at https://www.nocompressor.com/]

Support Fore River Residents Against the Compressor Station (FRRACS) and Weymouth residents at the appeal of the air quality permit for the Enbridge/Spectra compressor station planned for Weymouth. There are 3 ways to help:

Arlington Community Media Inc. filmed comments by Town Manager Adam Chapdelaine and others at the Oct. 1 kick-off event. The segment appears at about minute 6 in the newscast.

natural gas is not a climate solution — but is part of the problem. By working to end destructive drilling practices, limit the expansion of natural gas consumption and by preventing the export of natural gas — our goal is to end our reliance on dirty dangerous natural gas and fracking.

HEET has  mapped the National Grid, Columbia Gas  and Eversource’s gas data by town to create Google maps of over 200 Massachusetts towns and cities. Using these maps, you can zoom in to your home or school or business to see if there is a natural gas leak nearby and how old that leak is.  These maps work with smart phones. Zoom in on a leak icon, then click it for exact address.

Excellent overview of the gas leaks issue in Massachusetts, provides resources and steps for action.

Shows the number of gas leaks statewide, the 3 severity levels of gas leaks according to our utility companies, costs to consumers and the environment, info on methane and more.    

Learn about Comprehensive Health Impact Assessments in our technical report

Study of 100 randomly selected pipeline leaks revealed the existence of 'superemitters' and potential explosion hazards.

Find out the connection between 20,000 gas leaks in MA and efforts to build new gas pipelines.  Work with your local MOF team on these two important and related issues that make climate change worse.

• Squeaky Leak Report
• Cambridge maps of leaks and key findings
• Somerville maps of leaks and key findings

There's too much risk and not enough need.  According to authors Peter Shattuck and Jamie Howland, "In a remarkable shift from just a decade ago, natural gas now poses the biggest climate threat in the region."  (3.14.2016, Commonwealth Magazine)