{"id":39006,"date":"2018-10-11T09:57:25","date_gmt":"2018-10-11T14:57:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=39006"},"modified":"2018-10-11T09:57:25","modified_gmt":"2018-10-11T14:57:25","slug":"massachusetts-gas-explosions-draw-scrutiny-of-natural-gas-safety-and-climate-risks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=39006","title":{"rendered":"Massachusetts Gas Explosions Draw Scrutiny of Natural Gas Safety and Climate Risks"},"content":{"rendered":"

Massachusetts Gas Explosions Draw Scrutiny of Natural Gas Safety and Climate Risks<\/a><\/h3>\n
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A quiet, sunny afternoon in New England quickly turned to chaos and tragedy as a series of 80 fires and explosions erupted across three communities in the Merrimack Valley north of Boston on September 13. Extreme overpressure in a Columbia Gas distribution system caused uncontrollable natural gas venting over a wide area, and the resulting blasts killed one and injured more than two\u00a0dozen.<\/p>\n

In the wake of this disaster, scientists and environmentalists are raising questions about the safety and climate impacts of Massachusetts\u2019 aging natural gas infrastructure and the wisdom of continuing to rely on this fossil\u00a0fuel.<\/p>\n

Margaret Cherne-Hendrick, lead author of a 2016 Boston University study<\/a> of natural gas leaks, cautioned, \u201cThis is a very delicate system. It\u2019s a system that is piping a combustible gas into everybody’s homes and\u00a0businesses.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018<\/span>Ticking time\u00a0bombs\u2019<\/h3>\n

Experts have repeatedly warned about the dangers of Massachusetts\u2019 pipelines. The Conservation Law Foundation<\/a> (CLF<\/span>) calls them \u201cticking time bombs.\u201d According to the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA<\/span>), 38 percent<\/a> of the system distributing natural gas was installed prior to 1970. Massachusetts utilities still operate more than 8,300 miles of old, risky cast-iron and steel pipe, which includes those<\/a> in the recent\u00a0explosions.<\/p>\n

But brand-new pipes don\u2019t guarantee safety. Just a few days before the disaster in Massachusetts, a pipeline transporting natural gas from wells to a processing plant exploded in Pennsylvania<\/a>. It had only been in service for seven\u00a0days.<\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>Gas is climate damaging, has public health implications and concerns, and it very clearly has safety concerns as well,\u201d said Greg Cunningham, director of the clean energy and climate change program at CLF<\/span>. \u201cThose may arise infrequently, but they’re devastating when they\u00a0do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2026click on the above link to read the rest of the article\u2026<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Massachusetts Gas Explosions Draw Scrutiny of Natural Gas Safety and Climate Risks A quiet, sunny afternoon in New England quickly turned to chaos and tragedy as a series of 80 fires and explosions erupted across three communities in the Merrimack Valley north of Boston on September 13. Extreme overpressure in a Columbia Gas distribution system […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[141,22242,5317,22241,22240,554,22239,1394],"class_list":["post-39006","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-environment","tag-climate-change","tag-dan-zukowski","tag-desmog-blog","tag-gas-explosions","tag-massachusetts","tag-natural-gas","tag-natural-gas-safety","tag-safety"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39006","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=39006"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39006\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39007,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39006\/revisions\/39007"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=39006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=39006"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=39006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}