The future of Rhode Island's gas system
Gas companies and climate advocates present different visions for the scope of the state's investigation, plus a huge lobbying imbalance
Welcome back to the New England Climate Dispatch! For this weeks newsletter, we’re taking a looking at the ongoing proceedings at Rhode Island’s Public Utilities Commission (PUC) investigating how to decarbonize the state’s extensive gas distribution network, a major source of emissions.
This PUC investigation echoes the still-unresolved “future of gas” proceedings at the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities (DPU), which have dragged on for about two and a half years, and still may not come to any meaningful conclusion — Governor Maura Healey previously called for overhaul of the entire process due to the disproportionate influence of the gas industry in the proceedings.
While climate advocates in Massachusetts have pushed the DPU to plan for a phased decommissioning of the gas system, the state’s gas utilities have unsurprisingly pushed the state to maintain the gas system, relying on nascent alternative fuels like green hydrogen and biomethane.
Whatever the outcome, the unending nature of Massachusetts’ investigation seems to only benefit the state’s gas companies, which continue to add customers throughout the state, and expect the gas network to grow in the coming years.
In Rhode Island, this process is in its early stages, but the state’s gas distributor and environmental groups have already offered up differing visions. As with Massachusetts, the nitty gritty details around how the state calculates emissions from the gas system, along with the emissions, availability, and costs of future alternative fuels, will have a major impact on the eventual outcome of the process.
The chairman of the Rhode Island PUC has already stated that a ban of new gas hookups is on the table in these proceedings.
Environmental advocates in Rhode Island have pushed for the PUC investigation to include an updated account of all the emissions associated with the state’s gas system, which would then inform the decarbonization modeling.
The existing official greenhouse gas inventories for most states, including Rhode Island and Massachusetts, are based on the methods of the Environmental Protection Agency. Independent research has consistently found these estimates to significantly undercount methane emissions due to leaks in the production, distribution, and end use of the gas.
A 2019 report from researchers at the Stockholm Environment Institute and Brown University’s Climate and Development Lab estimated that Rhode Island’s total emissions increased by 45% when using updated accounting methods.
In the Massachusetts proceedings, the DPU relied on Massachusetts’ greenhouse gas inventory for its emissions assumptions, a move which was criticized by environmental groups such as the Acadia Center, the Conservation Law Foundation, and the Sierra Club.
While climate advocates hope that the Rhode Island investigation will accurately account for the full scope of methane emissions associated with the gas system, Rhode Island Energy — a subsidiary of the Pennsylvania-based gas company PPL, and the only natural gas provider for the state — pushed the PUC to exclude updates to its methane inventory from the scope of the investigation.
“The Company recommends narrowing these questions, such that issues regarding greenhouse gas emissions measurement and accounting methods are referred to either the appropriate authority for determination or state agency for guidance,” Rhode Island Energy wrote. “This approach is consistent with the approach taken in similar proceedings.”
One of the “similar proceedings” cited by Rhode Island Energy is the controversial process in Massachusetts.
To conduct the decarbonization analysis, Rhode Island Energy has also hired the same third party consulting firm, Energy + Environmental Economics (or E3), that was previously hired by the Massachusetts gas distributors in the neighboring state’s proceedings. E3’s analysis in Massachusetts ultimately favored a “hybrid electrification” scenario which would largely keep the state’s gas system in place as it decarbonized, while relying on nascent technologies like green hydrogen and biomethane to eventually replace natural gas in the system.
The scope of E3’s technical analysis in Rhode Island will be determined by the “Stakeholder Committee,” which includes representatives of environmental groups like the Acadia Center, the Conservation Law Foundation, and the Environmental Council of Rhode Island, along with government officials and representatives of businesses like Rhode Island Energy, gas pipeline company Enbridge, the RI Manufacturers Association, and chemical manufacturer Toray Plastics.
Once the overall scope of the technical analysis is developed by this committee, E3 will then start working with a separate technical working group, which has yet to be formed by the PUC, sometime early this summer. The ultimate goal for the process is to have a final report out by March of 2024.
Outside of the official proceedings, Rhode Island Energy also has a powerful lobbying operation in the state that it could focus on the PUC. In March alone, Rhode Island Energy spent $17,000 on lobbying state legislators, officials, and regulators. One of the lobbyists employed by the company is the former speaker of the Rhode Island House of Representatives William J. Murphy.
In contrast, the cumulative lobbying spending reported by the Acadia Center, the Conservation Law Foundation, the Sierra Club, and the Nature Conservancy totaled just $746 over their most recent monthly disclosures.
The commissioners of the PUC also have some noteworthy connections to the groups involved in the proceedings. The Chairman of the PUC, Ronald Gerwatowski, was a longtime executive working on regulatory issues in Rhode Island for National Grid, which sold Rhode Island Energy to its current parent company in May of 2022 for about $5.3 billion. Conversely, one of the other three commissioners, Abigail Anthony, previously worked for the Acadia Center.
While public utility proceedings might quickly veer into the dull and convoluted, with the fate of a billion-dollar investment on the line — not to mention the future of Rhode Island’s energy system and decarbonization goals — this process at least promises to be consequential.
Climate News Roundup
Connecticut
Thursday was the hottest April day on record in Connecticut history, while two multi-acre brush fires broke out across the state (Peter Yankowski — CT Insider)
UConn will receive at least $10 million to help environmental justice groups apply for federal grants (Associated Press)
Maine
A jury of residents at Maine’s Business and Consumer Court will decide the fate of the controversial Central Maine Power transmission line, which would bring hydroelectric power from Canada to Massachusetts (Sabrina Shankman — The Boston Globe)
A court has ruled that the Maine Secretary of State must rewrite the Pine Tree Power ballot question, following a lawsuit from consumer-owned power advocates over confusing wording in the question (Evan Popp — Maine Beacon)
Massachusetts
A prominent Harvard University environmental lawyer, who also rakes in hundreds of thousands as a member of fossil fuel company Conoco Phillips’ board, is facing criticism from activists for her role leading a study on corporate net zero pledges. Emails show that she has helped the fossil fuel company lobby to weaken federal regulations on this very subject (Dharna Noor — The Boston Globe)
The Boston City Council voted to adopt the state’s stricter climate-focused building code, which is aimed at minimizing (but not prohibiting) the use of fossil fuels in new buildings (Dharna Noor — The Boston Globe)
New Hampshire
A new study from Dartmouth researchers found that climate change is responsible for about 1% of home runs across Major League Baseball, a number which could rise to 10% if emissions continue to increase (Mara Hoplamazian — NHPR)
New Hampshire is the only New England state not competing for a billion-dollar pot of federal funding for green hydrogen hubs (Hadley Barndollar — New Hampshire Bulletin)
Rhode Island
A state fund dedicated to preserving agricultural land is running out of money, leaving the state’s declining farmland at a greater risk of development (Rob Smith — ecoRI)
Vermont
Utility-scale solar development in Vermont has been pitting solar developers against farmers, and presenting some hard questions about the best way for the state to decarbonize, where power is sourced, and who controls energy decisions (Kevin McCallum — Seven Days)
Thursday’s heat wave also broke records in Vermont, reaching 88 degrees in Burlington (Brittany Patterson — Vermont Public)
Beyond
A massive fire in Richmond, Indiana is eerily similar to the February fire at Clean Harbors in Braintree Massachusetts, which nearly developed into a much larger blaze. Like the Clean Harbors fire, the Indiana inferno started in a semi-trailer at a waste facility, quickly spreading and sending up a hazardous plume of unknown chemicals (Sara Smart, Nouran Salahieh and Michelle Krupa — CNN)