(The Green-Rainbow Party standing up and standing out compared to Governor “Chevron/Texaco” Patrick, who as recently as May called for “a future free of fossil fuels.” If only he put his money (read: political capital) where his mouth is. – promoted by eli_beckerman)
It has been difficult for those of us fighting the proposed Tennessee Gas Pipeline, educating the public and lobbying policy-makers to get a clear message from our elected representatives and candidates on where they stand on the issue. Will they publicly fight it, will they support it, or will they straddle? At the top political leadership we know clearly where the governor stands; he’s on the wrong side. Governor Patrick adamantly and vocally supports this fossil fuel expansion that is a huge step in the wrong direction.
Local politicians like Ben Downing, Paul Mark, and Smitty Pignatelli make statements on the subject that are tempered and carefully parsed. They express no vision or resolve. They instill little confidence that they are willing to stick their political necks out in a very difficult fight. They tell us they are ‘torn’ and that it’s a ‘difficult issue,’ that it’s the feds who are the authority, that the issue must be further ‘studied,’ and that they will follow the developments ‘with interest and concern.’ They may suggest that the pipeline should be situated on a different route, but they do not use their leadership position to broadly address the real issue of our continuing dependence on fossil fuels or to challenge the governor or the fossil fuel energy interests who pump money into the coffers of the Democratic and Republican parties.
Candidate Martha Coakley’s position statement is no better:
Martha is committed to building a clean energy future in Massachusetts and, while natural gas currently represents a critical piece of our energy mix, she continues to see it as a bridge to cleaner, renewable energy sources. She is also committed to doing everything possible to protect both homes and fragile environmental resources.
As you may be aware, the ultimate decision on this project rests with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and, like Governor Patrick, Martha believes FERC should ensure an open, substantive discussion with local residents before making a decision on the future of the project.
One gets the feeling that, once again, our political expectations are being managed down.
How refreshing, in this context, to hear clarity and firmness in a statement that was issued by an organized, growing, and feisty political opposition to establishment politics, the only political party in Massachusetts whose leaders and candidates neither solicit nor accept funding from private energy interests. This opposition party is the Green-Rainbow Party.
The Green-Rainbow Party’ statement on pipeline expansion:
“We are fundamentally opposed to the two major gas pipeline expansion projects being proposed in Massachusetts: The Algonquin fracked gas pipeline being proposed by Spectra Energy and the “Tennessee Gas Pipeline Northeast Expansion Project” proposed by Kinder Morgan Energy Partners.
Our Commonwealth is facing a dire threat from unchecked climate change caused by fossil fuel consumption. In response, Massachusetts has set a goal of reducing our greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2050. This is not the time to approve infrastructure projects that would increase our dependence upon fossil fuels. The proposed pipeline expansions would create infrastructure that, by their proponent’s own admission, would commit us to decades of fossil fuel dependence and would strike at the heart of our emission reduction standards. We must go in the opposite direction
We urge both Federal regulators and local communities to take steps to stop the two pipeline expansion projects and to redirect our energy infrastructure investments into green and sustainable energy projects such as conservation, wind, geothermal, hydropower, and solar power. The trajectory of our electrical consumption should be toward 100% renewable sources, with rapidly dwindling consumption of fossil fuels. By seriously pursuing a green energy future, we will make pipeline expansions uneconomical and unnecessary.
We call upon Governor Patrick to withdraw his support for imposing a tariff on electricity ratepayers in order to subsidize pipeline expansion. Pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into a project to increase our dependence on fossil fuels is blatantly inconsistent with the stated goals of the Commonwealth’s energy policies. We should be making investments that allow us to phase out natural gas consumption, not increase it.
A number of communities in Massachusetts have taken steps to ban hydraulic fracturing (fracking) within their borders and the Green-Rainbow Party has supported a statewide ban due to concerns regarding the environmental contamination produced by drilling operations. We feel it would be improper to subsidize and encourage fracking in other communities by importing more fracked gas into the Commonwealth. We should stand in solidarity with all Americans fighting to protect their water resources from fracking pollution – just as we once asked them to support our efforts to protect our offshore sanctuaries and our beaches from offshore oil drilling.”
Green-Rainbow Party members are active at local, state, and interstate/regional levels, working with concerned citizens of all political persuasions to fight this pipeline. I suggest that we all challenge our elected representatives to do better, that we put more pressure on them to speak clearly and forthrightly, and to hold them to this higher standard of advocacy, policy-making and environmental stewardship.
How about some political hardball on environmental issues. The game will be taken up a notch when more voters decide to express their political opposition by joining the Green-Rainbow Party.