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Sam Wade, director of public policy with the Renewable Natural Gas Coalition, estimates biogas can replace 20% of fossil gas.Ĭalifornia recently required the state to obtain 12% of its natural gas from biogas but Matt Vespa, a Senior Attorney with EarthJustice in California thinks that is overly optimistic. Both biogas and natural gas are equally damaging to the climate if emitted into the atmosphere. Biogas is derived from capturing methane released from decomposing organic matter in landfills, farms and waste water treatment plants. The utilities hope to stay in the pipeline distribution business by substituting biogas, also known as renewable natural gas, for natural gas currently obtained from drilling and fracking fossil formations in the earth. "By leveraging the existing investments that we've made to day we can make costs more affordable for customers," Judson said. They net an annual rate of return of over 10%. Currently, the state requires they replace and repair an estimated $20 billion dollars of pipeline over the next few years. Building, maintaining and servicing pipelines is how the companies make money. The utilities are paid to distribute gas through their local networks and simply pass the cost to ratepayers. Judith Judson, head of U.S strategy with National Grid, called the plan "an integrated clean gas and electric system," that would eliminate fossil fuel gas from both the gas delivery and electric systems, saying it's"the most practical and affordable path for our customers."īut critics say the utility roadmaps are based on unproven technologies and warn the companies will spend billions of dollars installing new pipelines that will be obsolete by mid-century, leaving consumers to pay for the stranded assets long after they're needed. All call for increased energy efficiency measures expanded use of heat pumps powered electricity generated by renewable solar and wind and where necessary, using hybrid gas-electric heating systems comprised of electric heat pumps and back-up gas burners. The five utility reports are virtually identical. The researcher came up with nine pathways the utilities could take to meet Massachusetts' ambitious emission limits. Technically known as Department of Pubic Utility Docket 20-80, the utility reports are based on analysis conducted by two independent research consulting firms selected by the local gas distribution companies.
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In 2020, Attorney General Maura Healey asked the Department of Public Utilities to investigate how the local distribution companies planned to meet the state's goals while ensuring continued safe and reliable gas service (even as demand declines), and ensure consumers do not pay unnecessary costs. Massachusetts law mandates that the state reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2030 from 1990 levels, 75% by 2040 and reach net zero by 2050.
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The utilities distribute natural gas to millions of homes and businesses in through tens of thousands of miles of pipelines criss-crossing the state. Natural gas, composed mostly of methane, is a powerful greenhouse gas and the the largest single contributor to climate changing emissions in the commonwealth. The plans call for a radical transformation of the Massachusetts energy and heating sector, betting heavily on the successful development of new, clean energy technologies.Įnvironmental groups were not permitted to participate in the drafting of the future of gas reports and warn that if the utility roadmaps fail, or alternative plans aren't successful, the state will not meet its ambitious, existential climate emission goals.
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New reports from the state's five investor-owned gas utilities offer roadmaps to the companies' future - and, in many ways, our own. (Stuart Cahill/MediaNews Group/Boston Herald via Getty Images)