Stop New York Fracked Gas Pipeline Opposes Recent National Grid Proposed Rate Agreement
Robert Connors
Robert Connors
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, September 28, 2021
Contact: Becky Meier, Co-Founder SNYFGP, 518-929-4664
Stop New York Fracked Gas Pipeline Opposes Recent National Grid Proposed Rate Agreement
Albany, NY— Becky Meier, Co-Founder of Stop New York Fracked Gas Pipeline (SNYFGP), provided this statement upon the release of the Joint Proposal in the National Grid upstate rate case for gas and electric users.
"Stop New York Fracked Gas Pipeline (SNYFGP) is in opposition to the proposed three-year rate agreement for National Grid's upstate territories (Case Nos. 20-E-0380 & 20-G-0381). SNYFGP was formed in 2014 to stop the Northeast Energy Direct Pipeline and then expanded to oppose the building of additional fossil fuel infrastructure and encourage renewable energy use in the Albany area. The last several years we have been fighting against National Grid's Albany Loop Pipeline proposal, which is a 7-mile fracked gas pipeline that would start and end in the Albany area and go under the Hudson River.
"We realized that getting involved in this Rate Case was a situation wherein we might be able to influence the Public Service Commission's decision and so we got involved.
"Although we appreciate the efforts made by the Public Service Commission staff and National Grid to meet our concerns, Stop New York Fracked Gas Pipeline believes that the Joint Proposal does not guarantee that the Albany Loop won't ever be built. We have testified and substantially documented from the beginning that National Grid did not provide any evidence of the need for the Albany Loop pipeline or even seriously seek non-pipeline alternatives. Although National Grid has put the pipeline ‘on hold,’ they were not willing to take it ‘off the table.’ Although we hope that the pipeline will not be resurrected, National Grid's refusal to abandon it makes us unable to support this Joint Proposal.
"In addition, there is no way that New York can meet the mandates of New York's 2019 climate law, the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, if entities continue to build new fossil fuel pipelines. We must start using all available non-fossil fuel alternatives and efficiencies to meet future energy needs.
"We were hopeful that the passage of the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act in 2019, well before this rate case began, would mean that National Grid and the Public Service Commission staff would have a plan for complying with its mandates and start applying them in this case. We did not find that to be sufficiently present in the current proposed rate agreement."