Energy News for week ending March 15, 2019

Skipping School | Pipeline Benefits | Push the Plunger

Good Friday afternoon. I hope you all got a chance to get out and enjoy the balmy temperatures today.

Hopefully the temperatures were good around the world today for the kids who skipped school to protest climate change. From the Washington Post, “It started 29 weeks ago when 16-year-old Swede Greta Thunberg began skipping school on Fridays to protest climate change by standing outside of her nation’s parliament building. Today, kids from almost 100 countries, including the United States, are following Thunberg’s lead and will play hooky from classes for something they think is ultimately more important: preventing the warming of their planet.” They asked the kids to tell their stories for why they are participating. Here is one from Massachusetts, “Saraphina Forman (age 16; Sophomore, Northampton High School, Northampton, Mass.): ‘I grew up in the country a little bit outside of Northampton, tapping trees for maple syrup, skating on a nearby pond, and I know that the effects of climate change are already happening…When I came across Greta Thunberg, I think she really sparked a movement around the world. I was very much inspired by her and wanted to do the same…I thought, why shouldn’t I do this? It’s the duty of everyone.’”

Speaking of Western Mass, here’s an article from the Cabinet Press with a headline I thought I’d never see, “Amherst Conservation Commission: Gas pipeline could benefit town.” It reads in part, “The natural gas pipeline through four miles of Amherst would have a limited long-term impact on the town’s ecology and could benefit the town as a whole. Those were two conclusions from the Amherst Conservation Commission’s environmental assessment of the Northeast Energy Direct pipeline proposed by Kinder Morgan and the Tennessee Gas Pipeline companies. Among the areas covered in the commission’s 36-page report are land use, water resources, hazardous materials, geology and soils, wildlife, air quality, public health, visual resources and pipeline construction methods as they apply to Amherst’s terrain. The commission concluded that, “based on current knowledge, the installation of the natural gas pipeline proposed by Kinder Morgan appears to have limited long-term impact on the natural systems temporarily impacted by the pipeline construction.”

Now here’s something that sounds like a lot of fun – from Southcoasttoday.com — “The Brayton Point cooling towers are scheduled to be imploded April 27, and tickets are available for those looking to be the lucky one to ‘push the plunger.’ All proceeds from ticket sales will benefit the Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial Wall installation coordinated by the Greater Fall River Vietnam Wall Committee, according to a press release from the Office of Speaker Pro Tempore Patricia Haddad. ‘This is a ceremonial pushing of the plunger. The professional demolition team hired by Commercial Development Corporation, owners of the Brayton Point Commerce Center, will actually detonate the explosives simultaneously with the winner pushing the plunger,’ said Haddad, D-Somerset.” Only 1,000 tickets were printed. Each costs $20. You have until April 15^th to get your hands on one. It’s sure to be a blast!

That covers for it for this week. Have a great weekend.

Natural Gas/Oil/Pipeline/Drilling

‘Never Going to Let This Happen Again’: Incoming Columbia Gas President Offers Safety Assurances 6 Months After Merrimack Valley Disaster, NECN

Hearings Set to Resume for Burrillville Power Plant, ECO RI

Power plant would need 16k gallons of water a day, Johnston Sun Rise

Pinelands Commission says South Jersey Gas pipeline approval void, Press of Atlantic City

Amherst Conservation Commission: Gas pipeline could benefit town, Cabinet

Columbia Gas To Replace Heating Equipment, WGBH

Massachusetts Hired Energy Industry Execs to ‘Independently’ Review State’s Gas System, Desmog Blog

In America’s Shale Country, Nukes and Gas Are Duking It Out, Bloomberg

Ex-Transportation Czar to Oversee Utility’s Safety Efforts, NBC Boston

Renewables/Climate Change/RGGI