This commentary is by Lauren Ebersol, a volunteer climate change activist based in Burlington. She is a member of Climate Changemakers, seeking to take political action through a climate lens.
You’d be hard pressed to travel far in Vermont without seeing some reflection of renewable energy — windmills, electric cars and solar panels abound in a state that is known nationally for its focus on the climate (and its beauty, of course).
Despite this, in November, Vermont’s Public Utility Commission approved a request from Vermont Gas Systems to bring biogas and renewable energy credits through a pipeline snaking from the Finger Lakes through Canada to our state. The pipeline already exists but is leaky and over 1,000 miles long.
While the project is touted as “renewable” energy, what remains the same is that the planet feels biomethane and methane identically. And in 2022, a 13-day methane leak from natural gas storage canceled out half of the year’s emissions reduction gains from electric vehicle deployment. Half.
Unfortunately, the new Vermont Gas and Archaea Energy partnership is slated to last 15 years, but there is action that frustrated citizens can take to reduce methane emissions nationally in a much shorter time frame. The Environmental Protection Agency has proposed a new regulation that would sharply decrease methane emissions by both new and existing gas wells. This could cut emissions by up to 74% by 2030.
This will also add a cost of compliance of roughly 74 cents per metric ton, or 0.2% of industry revenues, which is consideration of the methane fee included in the Inflation Reduction Act passed in 2022.
If you are as fired up (pun intended) about the Vermont Gas project passing and want to do something, I urge you to submit a public comment to the EPA sharing your support for this new regulation. It is accepting public comments until Feb. 13, which can be shared here.
If you are looking for guidance for what to include, there are many templates such as from Climate Changemakers, but what is important is to share that you support and why you are concerned about greenhouse gas emissions and climate change.
We are at a critical moment for capping planet-warming emissions before we see the worst effects of climate change. We are already seeing it here in Vermont — a state known for its ski resorts, which have very little snow this January.
We have a beautiful state, a beautiful country, and a beautiful planet, and it is our duty to do what we can to curb emissions to maintain this beautiful place that we live in.
