BCAN

… and so are we! Check out Monica holding up an end of BostonCAN’s great GAStastrophe sign. If you listen very closely you can hear Stef beating the drum that was featured in the Boston Globe‘s article on the Jan 25 West Roxbury protest against the Spectra pipeline. (photo: Scott Eisen, Boston Globe)

 

 

 

 

 

And that’s just the start of it.

On January 22 the Boston Globe reported that Boston’s methane gas emissions are two-and-a-half times larger than experts thought. Our old pipelines and storage facilities are leaking enough gas to heat 200,000 homes and it’s costing us $90 million a year.

Meanwhile, West Roxbury residents are fighting to keep a new gas supply pipeline from crossing their neighborhood, with a regulating station next to a quarry that regularly detonates dynamite. And our new attorney general supports renewable energy and opposes the Kinder Morgan pipeline across northern Mass.

All this adds up to an enormous shift in public thinking about “natural” gas. It’s not clean; it’s methane, one of the most potent greenhouse gases. It’s not efficient; it’s leaking all over Boston. It’s not a bridge fuel; it’s a bridge to climate disaster. And more natural gas pipelines are not going to solve our energy problems.

Take action!

Write a letter to the editor of your neighborhood paper and spread the word about unnatural gas. Talking points are below; email bostonclimateaction@gmail.com if you want advice or help.

Stop the West Roxbury pipeline. Email bostonclimateaction@gmail.com if you want to join future actions.

Call your city councilor at 617-635-3040. Tell them the City should getting these leaky pipelines repaired ASAP, and the City should keep new pipelines out of Boston.

Join our Gas Pipe Action Team. Email bostonclimateaction@gmail.com . We will be finding leaky pipes, getting them fixed fast, and making sure gas companies don’t build huge new pipelines into our state.

Talking points for letters to the editor

• Leaky pipelines are costing us. National Grid’s ancient pipes are leaking enough gas to heat 200,000 homes. We are paying $90 million a year because NGrid hasn’t repaired its pipes.
• “Natural” gas is a killer. It kills trees and shrubs. It aggravates asthma and other respiratory diseases.
• “Natural” gas is really methane, a greenhouse gas that is 86 times worse than carbon dioxide in the short term. (The short term, the next 10 to 15 years, is when we need to be doing everything possible to cut greenhouse gas emissions.)
• “Natural” gas isn’t a bridge to a clean energy future. It’s a deadly fuel that may be as dirty as coal.
• We don’t need new natural gas pipelines in Massachusetts. Instead, the utility companies need to
  • Repair their old, leaky pipelines and stop wasting the gas we have.
  • Cut the demand for gas by charging more for electricity during peak demand times – very cold and very hot days. (The problem isn’t us heating our houses, it’s an electrical grid that is too dependent on gas.)
  • Get the electrical system off gas and onto renewables – wind and solar power.
• And most important — talk about your own experience and how you feel about gas leaks, climate change, and our future.