As New York state plans to seal the leaks in old cast iron pipelines, Keene NH has 12 miles of such pipe and even more statewide.
Sealing leaks means...
1. More product available for use as we quickly transition to renewable energy.
2. Less methane emissions and carbon in the atmosphere to exacerbate climate change impacts. (Methane is a greenhouse gas 86 times more potent than carbon dioxide!)
3. No need for fossil fuel/pipeline expansion.
It's a win-win. We don't pay for pipelines, we impact our health and climate less and we don't lock ourselves into a fossil fuel future.
How do we do this? We must let the PUC know that we'd prefer to pay for pipeline replacement at an increased rate (it would currently take 130 years to replace all our pipes) than pay for new pipelines and massive storage tanks.
"Central Hudson Gas & Electric Corp. is spending $30 million a year replacing its pre-1950s gas mains and service lines, part of a decades-long effort to prevent the sort of deadly explosions that struck Massachusetts in September and Harlem four years ago.
Durable polyethylene plastic gas pipes developed in the 1980s are replacing ones made of cast iron, wrought iron and steel as part of an accelerated overhaul that began two years ago.
“These older pipelines are being replaced for reasons of safety and reliability, as they are nearing the end of their useful life,” said John Maserjian, Central Hudson’s spokesman.
Since 2016, Central Hudson has sped up the replacement rate for its 1,288 miles of natural gas lines to three or four times what it had been in prior years, a pace prompted in part by the March 2014 deaths of eight people in an East Harlem explosion blamed on a defective natural gas pipe joint...
Maserjian said the initiative has benefited from the support of regulators at the state Public Service Commission.
“They’re looking at what’s happened over the past few years, not just in New York but other parts of the country, and they see this as an important safety initiative,” Maserjian added.
In June, the PSC adopted a three-year rate plan for Central Hudson that includes $3.2 million in revenue increases for natural gas customers, an increase of 1.5 percent. That translates to an average monthly increase of $2.54 for the typical residential heating customer in the first year, $5.59 in the second and $7.22 in the third."
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