WHO & WHAT – FREE EVENT – OPEN TO PUBLIC:
National Grid has just publicly proposed to build a new fracked gas pipeline called “E37 Reliability and Resiliency Pipeline”. It would traverse Bethlehem, East and North Greenbush, NY.

They have not documented this need nor have they analyzed non-pipeline alternatives to meet our twenty-first century energy needs. They are blindly following an old path to planetary ruin by using last century’s technologies.

If we continue to build fossil fuel infrastructure, there is no incentive to find alternatives. Fossil fuels are causing climate change that endangers the future of our planet, so we have to find alternatives quickly.

The NY State mandated goal of 100% clean power by 2040 can not be met if we continue to build fossil fuel infrastructure. New pipelines will last approximately 50 years and will likely become “stranded assets” before then.

By paying for a new pipeline with our rate payer money, there is not enough incentive for National Grid to find alternatives.
Why not use the rate hike money on our electric bill to incentivize the use of geothermal heating and cooling for new growth and also credit entities to not use gas or to use less gas on the few “peak energy” days each year? Such actions are referred to as “demand response”.

Energy users should seek out ways to have a back up energy source and to conserve and become more efficient with their energy consumption to eliminate the worry about “peak energy” periods.

The New York State Public Service Commission (PSC), which is the lead agency herein, needs to pressure National Grid to look at demand-response, no-pipe energy alternatives (not including CNG tractor-trailers or storage).
In Westchester County, NY the PSC did impose a moratorium on new pipelines and told National Grid to use renewables instead. The same should be done with this new proposal.

If our country was at war, we would ask our citizens to make sacrifices for our national interests. We believe it is time to ask people to make creative choices to ensure the continuation of a sustainable environment.