Energy News for week ending November 9, 2018

Write off | LNG in Central MA | A gas leak every mile | About Face

Happy Friday afternoon. Be careful heading home or out this evening. We have a flash flood watch from 5:00 PM today until 3:00 PM Saturday for many parts of New England.

We start this week with three natural gas stories. First, from Jon Chesto at the Boston Globe, Eversource writes off its investment in Access Northeast because of Columbia Gas disaster, “When fires and explosions rocked Lawrence-area homes and businesses in September, the Columbia Gas incident was bound to hurt the already-tenuous political stature of the natural gas industry around here. Now, Eversource Energy is paying a price for the damage to the industry’s reputation: $32.9 million. That’s the pretax value of Eversource’s 40 percent stake in the proposed Access Northeast pipeline expansion project. Eversource just wrote off the full amount. The company hasn’t officially given up on Access Northeast. But the utility’s accountants have decided, at least for now, that its share in the project is worthless. The reason? Eversource blamed the Merrimack Valley gas disaster, in a document filed Tuesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission, even though the incident didn’t take place in Eversource’s gas service territory.”

While Eversource may have temporarily given up on Access Northeast, the Merrimack Valley disaster is not stopping Liberty Energy Trust of Pennsylvania from proposing a $100M LNG plant in Charlton, MA. From the Worcester Telegram, “On the fiercest of cold days this winter, thousands of Massachusetts residents will rely on the liquid form of natural gas for heat, and they likely won’t care where it comes from or how it gets to them, as long as it keeps their homes warm. Behind the scenes, though, utility companies take note every time a gigantic tanker ship carrying liquefied natural gas (LNG) docks at the Distrigas terminal in Everett. The imported LNG, arriving from places like Trinidad and Russia, helps offset their natural gas supplies, but, with no power over the domestic and international markets, they worry about relying solely on overseas fuel. To assure reliability, the companies say, the state must find ways to create its own sources for LNG. Charlton could emerge as an option…Liberty Energy Trust has proposed construction of a more than $100-million LNG plant — operating under the name Northeast Energy Center LLC — on roughly 25 acres of a 220-acre wooded site at 249 Sturbridge Road (Route 20).”

USA Today brings us our third natural gas story, A gas leak every mile: Google Street View cars find problems that utilities don’t “In older American cities like New York and Boston, there can be as many gas leaks as there are miles of road. How do we know? Because Google drove those city streets – and mapped every leak. In some communities, those funny-looking Google Street View cars driving around taking pictures of houses and storefronts are also sniffing for natural gas – part of an effort to detect and fix leaks before they become bigger problems.”

Last for this week is a blog post from the Union of Concerned Scientists, which this week, basically did a 180 on their view of nuclear power. “Last month the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) issued a sobering report. Based on the most up-to-date scientific evidence, the report warns that we are rapidly losing any appreciable chance of meeting the Paris climate agreement goal of keeping temperature increases to “well below” 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. The report also makes clear that if we fail to meet this goal, the consequences will not only be severe, but they will be experienced sooner than expected…These sobering realities dictate that we keep an open mind about all of the tools in the emissions reduction toolbox—even ones that are not our personal favorites. And that includes existing nuclear power plants in the United States, which currently supply about 20 percent of our total electricity needs and more than half of our low-carbon electricity supply…Factoring all of these considerations in, our new report calls for proactive policy to preserve nuclear power from existing plants that are operating safely but are at risk of premature closures for economic reasons or to ensure that lost nuclear capacity is replaced with carbon-free sources.”

That’s it for this week’s recap. Have a great weekend and please be sure to take a moment to give thanks to our veterans.

Natural Gas/Oil/Pipeline/Drilling

Eversource writes off its investment in Access Northeast because of Columbia Gas disaster, Boston Globe

States raise Exelon market power concerns over Mystic cost recovery proposal at FERC, Utility Dive

Fossil fuel money crushed clean energy ballot initiatives across the country, Vox

Natural Gas is Undermining Pennsylvania’s Nuclear Plants—And That’s Bad News for the Climate, Union of Concerned Scientists

Power plant opponents celebrate another victory as case moves into final months, Valley Breeze

$100M LNG plant proposed on Route 20 in Charlton, Worcester Telegram

A gas leak every mile: Google Street View cars find problems that utilities don’t, USA Today

US and British steelworkers’ union call on National Grid to end the lockout in Massachusetts, Morning Star

Merrimack Valley

Columbia Gas Pledges To Promote Energy Efficiency In Affected Merrimack Valley Homes, WBUR