by Lucia Dolan
Natural gas leaks:
- Can cause explosions
- Kill trees by attracting bacteria to their roots
- Are harmful to human health
- Are an extraordinarily potent greenhouse gas
- Waste a valuable fossil fuel that has been harvested through fracking
What’s more – we pay for all the gas wasted in leaks!
A topic meeting about gas leaks which was held at NewTV on Novermber 9. The Resource People/Speakers were Launa Zimmaro, LWVMA Environmental Specialist and Ellie Goldberg from Mothers Out Front (MOF) who is also a LWVN member. There were three members of MOF in attendance, as well as 12 League members. The Discussion Leader was Priscilla Leith. We learned that methane is a much stronger greenhouse gas than CO2, that we are paying for gas that we don’t use, that if the gas company fixed the leaks, there would not be a need for the proposed new gas lines. We need to work on getting the gas company to deal with the aging infrastructure. Launa encouraged us to go to the LWVMass website to learn about LWVMA action at the State House. There is a list of bills that the LWV is working on, as well as the League testimony.