DON’T LOCK IN EXPENSIVE NEW GAS LINE REPLACEMENTS AND A FUTURE OF FOSSIL-FUELED ENERGY
We have until Dec 23 to let the Mass Department of Utilities know that The National Grid plans for Watertown 2027-2030 are unacceptable. As is true for all the other towns, the grid is incomplete, nothing is listed under non-pipeline alternatives, including no plans for pipe segment repairs rather than full pipe replacement, which is much more expensive than repairs.
TELL them this or more. Check especially the Background and Ask.
EMAIL FORMAT
Subject: D.P.U. National Grid: 25-GSEP-03 Comment on NPA completeness To: <dpu.efiling@mass.gov>, <w.jay.lee@mass.gov> Cc: <jralston@keeganwerlin.com>, patrick.houghton@nationalgrid.com I am submitting the attached Comment regarding D.P.U. National Grid: 25-GSEP-03. Attach PDF of comment.(note you can save a word or google doc as a pdf)
Here are some comments you could from Watertown Faces Climate Change. Include a statement about yourself.
- Watertown is working hard to meet its Climate Goals, and it is clear that the GSEP plans are in contradiction to those goals. The GSEP plan for replacement rather than repair of these lines would lock us into decades of dependence on expensive new lines and the gas they distribute.
- Repair costs $100,000/mile vs millions per mile for new lines, and repairs will last for decades – long enough to covert to renewable sources. Rate payers would bear the higher expenses of the new lines for a much longer time than for needed repairs.
- The GSEP plan does not follow the new rules; there is no evaluation of Non-Pipeline Alternatives. We want to see where geothermal could be used to provide electrical service.
- The pipelines they intend to replace are in only a very few cases located where the largest leaks in Watertown are.
- We need to know the full scope of the projects listed in the GSEP plan; apparently the scope can be beyond the one street listed in the plan.