PLEASE SPEAK OUT & OPPOSE PARTICIPATION BY THE MIDDLEBOROUGH GAS &
ELECTRIC COMMISSION IN PROJECT MAPLE - AN EXPENSIVE METHANE GAS
PIPELINE!
Sustainable Middleborough is partnering with Sierra Club Massachusetts asking both our organizations' members to send a message to the Middleborough Gas & Electric Commission not to contract with a costly methane-gas pipeline expansion called Project Maple. You can sign on to a prewritten message and add your own personal message here.
MGED customers will be on the hook, if the contract goes through, for a very expensive short-term solution—as our state has already committed to phasing out natural gas.
Below is the action alert that Sierra Club just sent to all its members in Middleborough and Lakeville. Our voices are strongest when we raise them together. This action should take you just a few minutes and you can do it from wherever you are. Can you send a message this weekend?
Enbridge, a Canadian multinational pipeline and energy company, is proposing a methane gas pipeline expansion project, commonly referred to as Project Maple, which would impact MA, RI, CT, and NY. This costly expansion will be at the expense of Middleborough ratepayers, at a time when Massachusetts is leading in the transition to electrification. The dangers of fracked natural gas are well known: methane leaks and explosions, unhealthy air quality, soil and water contamination, and carbon emissions that contribute to the climate crisis.
Enbridge has asked Middleborough Gas and Electric Department to commit to purchasing from this pipeline project at its proposed completion of 2029-30.
Here in Massachusetts, we have already set goals to phase out gas and invest in an affordable, clean energy grid. Why would we build more infrastructure that does not fit our state’s goals for solutions that will protect our air, water, and community?
We need you to ask Middleborough Gas and Electric Department Commissioners not to spend your dollars on this costly, polluting infrastructure, and demand that they not sign a gas purchasing agreement with Enbridge.
Stop Project Maple
Project Maple refers to a proposed methane gas pipeline expansion project, where Enbridge intends to expand its “Algonquin” Gas Transmission (AGT) Pipeline system in the Northeast, affecting Massachusetts, New York, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. This will be the third expansion on this gas pipeline in a decade.
Enbridge has been using a tactic called segmentation, by breaking up a larger project into smaller, separate filings in order to move ahead shoring up contracts and filing other projects which they claim are unrelated to Project Maple. This tactic has been ruled “impermissible” in previous court cases.
“Stop Project Maple” is a multi-state coalition of more than 90 environmental groups and community organizations in opposition to Enbridge’s proposal, which would significantly expand the amount of fracked gas transmitted through the AGT Pipeline, undermining state climate goals. Massachusetts’ 2050 Decarbonization Roadmap and the Massachusetts Clean Heat Commission both call for prioritizing clean energy, not more gas. The Department of Public Utilities also agrees – their December 2023 order acknowledges the need to move beyond gas.
New Opportunity for Middleboro and Lakeville Residents:
Middleborough Gas and Electric has approved a precedent agreement with Enbridge to purchase gas as part of the Project Maple pipeline expansion project. This would be a bad investment, paid for by the health and dollars of our residents, and we must not allow costly and polluting fossil fuel expansion projects like this to be developed in our State.
Tell Middleborough Gas and Electric to invest wisely!
Want to get involved with the campaign to Stop Project Maple? Contact Alan.
Read more
- Stop Project Maple fact sheet (August 2024)
- Who is Enbridge?
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.