Tag: methane

Join the No Pipeline Expansion Northeast Coalition to Learn About a Proposed Pipeline Under the Connecticut River in Middletown

by Sena Wazer, Volunteer and Outreach Coordinator, Sierra Club CT

Eversource, the electric and gas utility for much of Connecticut, has proposed to build a new interconnection pipeline under the Connecticut River. This expansion would impact Middletown, East Hampton, and Higganum, in particular the Connecticut Valley Railroad State Park Trail, Hurd State Park, and Higganum Meadows Wildlife Management Area.

Eversource wants to complete this expansion using a practice called horizontal directional drilling. When this practice was used in 2024 for a pipeline in Rhode Island, the company spilled 50 gallons of drilling fluid into the Sakonnet River. Connecticut doesn’t need more methane gas, we don’t need more pipelines, and we certainly don’t need them drilled under the Connecticut River.

In addition to the potential harm that projects like this do to our ecosystems, they are also bad for our climate, health, and costs. Two recent publications have shown that methane gas reliance and pipeline expansions raise our bills.

A study in Maine, which is on the same regional electricity grid as Connecticut, found that methane gas is the primary driver of rising electricity prices in Maine, while clean energy would lower bills. A recently published primer from The Future of Heat Initiative found that Connecticut customers are paying more for gas pipes and their expansion, than for the actual gas we use.

Are you interested in learning more and taking action? Join Sierra Club Connecticut, the No Pipeline Expansion Northeast Coalition, and Sunrise Movement Wesleyan for an educational forum in Middletown titled “Pipelines Under Our River: Safety, Costs, and What Residents Should Know.” The forum will be hosted on Wednesday, March 25, at 6 p.m. at the Russell Library. Find more information and RSVP here: tinyurl.com/middletownforum. Email sena.wazer@sierraclub.org with questions.

Bridgeport Power Plants Are an International Problem

by Stanley Heller, Promoting Enduring Peace

People are not getting the message. The U.N. climate scientists say we must cut carbon emissions in half within a dozen years or we’re going to really screw up the climate. People read the words and go off to something else. The authorities will take care of it. But they’re not.

In Bridgeport, we have the Bridgeport Harbor Station — the last coal-burning plant in New England. It gives out all kinds of dangerous chemicals. After years of protest, it is slated to be replaced. That’s good news, BUT it will be replaced by a methane-burning power plant. The methane burning plant will actually throw off 6 times the carbon dioxide as does the current coal plant!

It will spew an estimated 1.6 million tons a year compared to a quarter of a million the coal plant emitted in 2017. It also will have to be fed with methane which currently comes from a U.S. production and piping system that leaks methane like crazy. And methane in the short run (and all we have is the short run) is 100 times worse as a global warming gas than carbon dioxide.

The coal-burning plant should be shut down immediately. The building of the methane plant should be stopped. Yes, yes, think of the expense. But think of the climate hell we’re creating. The U.S. has mothballed nuclear power plants at even more expense. It’s an emergency. Treat it like that and come up with a solution.