[T]he state’s sole natural gas utility will not be building distribution lines to provide service to Bristol residents in the near future.
The Bristol Selectboard, citing a pending lawsuit, voted March 18 to end a license agreement with Vermont Gas that had granted the utility permission to build distribution lines along town roads.
The Selectboard and the utility are defendants in a lawsuit brought by Bristol residents over the validity of the agreement.
Vermont Gas received approval from the town last year to connect Bristol residents to the natural gas pipeline that runs from Colchester to Middlebury. The utility had a previous agreement with the Addison County Regional Planning Commission for a pipeline to Bristol.
A group of 37 Bristol residents sued the Selectboard and Vermont Gas last summer for not holding a town vote, or providing public notice of residents’ right to petition for a vote, before signing the license agreement.
Jim Dumont, the attorney representing Bristol residents who oppose the expansion, said his clients were “very happy” with the Selectboard’s decision.
Both the utility and town filed motions to dismiss the lawsuit, but Addison County Superior Court Judge Alison Sheppard Arms ruled in January that the lawsuit could go forward.
Vermont Gas filed a letter with the state Public Utility Commission earlier this year saying that it was putting a pause on permitting the Bristol expansion.
Beth Parent, spokesperson for Vermont Gas, said the company wanted to terminate the agreement because of uncertainty with the ongoing legal issues.
“They’re really challenging our ability to provide service there,” she said of the plaintiffs who brought the lawsuit.
She added the utility hopes to find an “innovative way” to eventually provide natural gas to Bristol residents who want the service.
Valerie Capels, administrator for the town of Bristol, said that the Selectboard members had to decide whether to keep fighting the lawsuit once Arms had ruled against the town’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit.
“The Selectboard did not want to continue to spend taxpayer dollars,” on litigation, Capels said.
Both chambers of the Legislature have floated bills this session that would ban new fossil fuel infrastructure in Vermont, which was another factor the Selectboard considered, Capels added.
Vermont Gas’ plans for the Bristol pipeline had been “divisive,” she said, with some residents wanting the option to heat with natural gas and others not wanting the company to build distribution lines in town.
Opponents have said they are concerned about safety and methane emissions.
“It’s not a bridge fuel to renewables — it’s worse than oil,” said Dumont.
Vermont Gas has said that switching from heating oil to natural gas reduces carbon emissions by 28 percent.
Now that the license agreement is void, the lawsuit will be dismissed, Dumont said.