Boston Flora

Tag: HEET

  • CALL TO ACTION: Gas Leaks in Back Bay and Across the Commonwealth

    According to the Massachusetts Chapter of the Sierra Club, Massachusetts has one of the nation’s oldest natural gas pipeline systems, and it is showing its age. Gas pipes around the Commonwealth have more than 25,000 leaks, losing more than eight billion cubic feet of natural gas into the air every year – and possibly as much as nineteen billion cubic feet.

    Natural gas leaks kill trees by attracting bacteria to their roots, are harmful to human health, are an extraordinary potent greenhouse gas, waste a valuable fossil fuel that has been harvested through fracking, and can potentially cause explosions.

    In addition, utilities don’t pay for the gas that is wasted through leaks, but pass that cost onto ratepayers by factoring it into the price the pay. Nor are the utilities required to repair any leaks, unless a leak is considered potentially explosive. Leaks never get any better; they only get worse over time.

    In 2015, for the first time, utilities in Massachusetts reported on the location of natural gas leaks in their territories. A nonprofit group called the Home Energy Efficiency Team (HEET) has used those reports to create Google maps of the reported leaks, which you can see by clicking here. Using those maps, you can zoom in on your neighborhood to find out where there are local gas leaks (as reported by the utilities in March 2015).

    For example, downtown Boston (which includes Back Bay) was reported to have 246 unrepaired leaks as of February 26, 2015. Importantly, one of HEET’s solutions is for all of us to support state legislation that will help solve the problem. Two such legislative bills are currently pending in the Massachusetts Legislature:

    A Bill Protecting Consumers (H2870): This bill, if passed, would prohibit utility companies from passing the cost of wasted gas onto consumers, incentivizing them to fix the leaks as quickly and cost effectively as possible.

    A Bill Requiring Gas Leak Repairs During Road Projects (H2871): This bill, if passed, would require gas companies to check and repair all gas leaks whenever a street is already open for construction. Repairing leaks before repaving is not only cheaper for the utility companies, it also decreases the chance the street will need to get opened up soon afterward for pipeline repairs, reducing future street repaving needs (and costs) for the local municipality and disruption for nearby residents.

    We therefore urge you to contact your State Representative and State Senator to express your support for both of these important bills. If you live in the Back Bay, your State Representative is Jay Livingstone (Jay.Livingstone@mahouse.gov) or Byron Rushing (Byron.Rushing@mahouse.gov) and your State Senator is William Brownsberger (William.Brownsberger@masenate.gov). The more voters who speak out in favor of these bills, the better the chance is that they will be enacted into law.

  • Tuesday, March 24, 9:00 am – 10:30 am – Boston Methane Leak Tutorial

    Please join Case Associates on Tuesday, March 24th from 9-10:30 am at Muriel Finegold’s home at 72 Mount Vernon Street in Boston to learn about the methane leak problem in Boston.

    We will have two fabulous experts explain the problem and together we will discuss possible solutions. Feel free to invite others you think might be interested and please RSVP to Ana Maria Camargo at ania.camargo@gmail.com, or telephone her at 617-227-1711 so we know how many people are coming.

    Methane Leak Issue:
    Natural gas pipes buried under the streets can begin to leak as they age. The natural gas that seeps out is potentially dangerous, kills trees, wastes the ratepayers’ money, releases volatile organic compounds hazardous to human health and is a potent greenhouse gas.

    The Boston Globe recently reported that: “the amount of methane leaking from natural gas pipelines, storage facilities, and other sources in the Boston area is as much as three times greater than previously estimated — a loss that contributes to the region’s high energy costs and adds potent greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. The leaks would be enough to heat as many as 200,000 homes a year and are valued at $90 million a year, the Harvard study authors said.”

    Our speakers:

    Audrey Schulman, HEET Co-founder and President

    HEET (Home Energy Efficiency Team) is a Cambridge-based non-profit organization with a mission to catalyze community engagement and develop hands-on educational opportunities to advance energy efficiency skills and clean energy knowledge to achieve climate stability and create resilient communities. In 2014, Heet organized the “Squeaky Leaks” project to map natural gas leaks along public streets in Cambridge and Somerville. HEET recruited Bob Ackley of Gas Safety USA, a professional with 30 years experience, to do the mapping. Ackley drove down every street in Cambridge and Somerville with a GPS- enabled high precision methane analyzer (natural gas is 95% methane), recording any elevated levels of atmospheric methane. The data was mapped to Google Earth. They found 780 leaks with released methane that damages the climate more than the combined emissions of all the cars driven in the two cities.
    Joel Wool, Clean Energy Campaign Organizer for Clean Water Action
    Joel joined Clean Water Action in 2011 to support work on clean energy. He now serves as a campaign organizer focusing on energy efficiency, natural gas infrastructure and coal phase-out. An alumnus of AmeriCorps and the JOIN for Justice Fellowship, Joel believes strongly in amplifying the voices of communities. Joel worked on Mayor Walsh’s campaign for mayor advising him on sustainability issues.