Category: Granite Bridge

On July 31st, 2020, we stopped the Granite Bridge pipeline after years of grassroots organizing. Now, Liberty Utilities – the company behind Granite Bridge, is asking the state to sign off on a $7.5 million bill for ratepayers, to recoup some of the money they lost pursuing the project.

The Granite Bridge pipeline would have cost $340 million and locked us into years of burning fracked methane gas instead of transitioning to renewable energy. Liberty claims the costs were necessary to “conduct due diligence” on one of two options to meet the growing demand for natural gas.350 New Hampshire opposed the Granite Bridge project and argues that any fossil fuel infrastructure expansion in NH is dangerous for our state. 

“Building new fracked gas infrastructure locks us into burning expensive and dangerous fossil fuels for decades to come,” says Lila Kohrman-Glaser, Co-Executive Director of 350NH. “Building new gas pipelines makes the shareholders of Liberty Utility and the fracking companies rich at the expense of our communities and our health and safety. We don’t need any new gas infrastructure to meet our energy needs in NH.”

Liberty Utilities should instead consider focusing their efforts on clean, renewable energy like solar and wind – and doing work to electrify the energy grid. The climate crisis is already impacting New Hampshire – rising sea levels, droughts, fires, and heat waves are threatening people and ecosystems across the state.

On learning that Liberty wants to make ratepayers cut the checks for failed pipeline projects, Karen Merriam of Epping said: “Allowing Liberty Utilities to charge ratepayers $7.5 million for the scrapped Granite Bridge Project would contravene long-standing NH law (the 1979 Anti-Construction Work In Progress law) and would set a terrible precedent.”

Why should ratepayers (whose energy costs are already high) have to front the bill for Liberty’s mistake?  Liberty Utilities is showing us yet again that they do not care about their customers – they care about making a profit. 

350 New Hampshire’s mission is to stop the climate crisis by enacting a just transition to 100% renewable energy and an end to fossil fuel use and expansion. You can learn more at 350nh.org

Liberty Utilities is looking to run a natural gas pipeline that would run under the Lamprey River two times through my hometown of Raymond.  The Granite Bridge Pipeline would run from Manchester, through Raymond, out toward the seacoast, putting neighborhoods and communities along the route in danger.  Just last week Liberty Utilities held an LNG (liquid natural gas) “science fair” in Epping at which they purported natural gas to be safe.  Dozens of Epping residents, along with others from towns along the pipeline route, showed up to this event to oppose the LNG storage tank that would be sited right off of Exit 6, saying it is not safe and it’s bad for the environment.

The following morning it was all over the news that there was a natural gas pipeline explosion overnight in Lincoln County Kentucky with flames so high they could be seen from space.  The blast killed one person trying to escape, melted part of a railroad track, completely destroyed five homes and damaged others. Just imagine that happening in Raymond or Epping.  How would our communities ever be able to recover?  Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin said, “These things happen.  It’s a dangerous industry.  It’s a dangerous business.”

It’s long past time for us to end our dependence on fossil fuels. We can transition to safe, clean and renewable sources of energy now by preventing Liberty Utilities from expanding their natural gas infrastructure in New Hampshire. Governor Jay Inslee, candidate for president, recently announced his opposition to the GBP project on WMUR saying, “In New Hampshire, we have an opportunity to begin that transition now, by preventing Liberty Utilities from cementing its reach across New Hampshire through the Granite Bridge Pipeline… It’s time to stand with local New Hampshire leaders fighting the pipeline’s construction.”

We need more leaders and elected officials to join us in opposing this unnecessary fossil fuel project that will only increase utility profits, while harming our citizens, our environment, and our climate. New Hampshire can and must do better for our economy, our environment, and the communities we care for. It’s time to invest in clean local energy to keep our dollars and our jobs in New Hampshire.

~ Jennifer Dube

How many of us remember as kids jumping into a clear, cold river to cool off on a hot summer day? Remember how invigorating and refreshing that felt? Now how many of us remember questioning if the water was too polluted to swim in? 

The Granite Bridge Pipeline (GBP) is a 27-mile pipeline proposed by Liberty Utilities that would transport fracked gas from Manchester to the seacoast. This fracked gas pipeline would pass through the town of Raymond, underneath the Lamprey River twice.

Raymond doesn’t need a pipeline project running through it, and here are the reasons why:

1. This proposed pipeline project threatens not only the Lamprey River, but the Great Bay Estuary and its valuable wildlife habitats and ecosystems.  Running the pipeline under the Lamprey River will cause the erosion of dirt, minerals, and other pollutants into the river.  The land disturbance will harm the local ecosystems by destroying wildlife habitats and altering migration patterns.
2. Pipelines are a disaster waiting to happen.  According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, there were 311 significant safety incidents at natural gas distribution pipelines between 2008 and 2012, resulting in 230 injuries and 41 deaths.  There were also 370 significant safety incidents at natural gas transmission pipelines during this same time period, resulting in 85 injuries and 10 fatalities. Raymond does not have the resources to respond to a hazardous materials incident.  Gas is highly flammable, and any incident would likely necessitate a large-scale evacuation and involve multiple agencies and jurisdictions.  Raymond’s economy would suffer and residents would be left to absorb the costs.
3. Fossil-fuels are 20th century.  Renewable energy is 21st century. There are clean energy options that we can and should be moving to not only because they are better for our environment, because they are better for our economy.  Energy analytics company Drillinginfo published a report recently saying that renewables are getting cheaper and cheaper, displacing gas demand for electric power. We should be demanding clean and renewable sources of energy instead of harming our environment by clinging to fossil fuels, which are quickly becoming obsolete.
4. The main component of natural gas is methane, a 34 times more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide due to the fact that it is far more effective absorbing heat.  When mixed with other chemicals, methane can become explosive and deadly when ignited.  Methane is also a “simple asphyxiant” because it displaces oxygen. People need a minimum 18 percent oxygen content to breathe.  Oxygen levels below 16 percent are dangerous, and levels below 10 percent are deadly.
5. Raymond will not benefit from the pipeline project, it’s all risk and no reward.  Few, if any, permanent jobs would be created.  The gas in the pipeline would not service Raymond.  Liberty Utilities has no customers in Raymond. There is no way for Raymond residents to tie into the pipeline without huge infrastructure investments from the government and home owners of Raymond.  So where is this gas going? Who is it meant for if renewable energy is displacing gas demand for electric power? The following is from the US Energy Information Administration:
   1. Exports of liquid natural gas (LNG) increased substantially in 2016, 2017, and 2018, coinciding with large increases in export capacity since 2015.
   2. In 2018, total annual U.S. natural gas exports were the highest on record, and the United States was a net exporter of natural gas for the second year in a row.
   3. 70% of the total U.S. natural gas exports in 2018 were by pipeline, 67% of which went to Mexico. The U.S. exported natural gas to 32 other countries as well, including China, Japan, and South Korea.  

The answer is clear. We can let Liberty Utilities continue to put the health and safety of our communities at risk by  clinging to fossil fuels for their own gain, or we can insist upon a clean future that prioritizes our communities needs over the bottomline of huge corporations. Clean energy is moving forward – are we?

-Jennifer Dube

With the Granite Bridge project currently trying to build a 27 mile fracked gas pipeline through southern New Hampshire, now is the time to consider what we want the future of our region’s energy sources to look like.

As a teenager living in this region and facing a future threatened by climate change, I am very concerned that this project aims to increase our reliance on fossil fuels rather than moving towards cleaner, renewable energy sources. To me, this project presents another sign that some of the adults in power are not working hard enough to be able to hand a livable world down to the next generation. It is frustrating to see us moving backwards or standing still instead of making progress towards becoming a more sustainable society.

In addition to its other negative environmental and economic impacts (more information can be found at https://350nh.org/resistgranitebridge/, http://www.plan-ne.org, or https://www.echoaction.org/granite-bridge),  this pipeline is a step in the wrong direction when it comes to fighting climate change. Towns across the affected region have been voicing their opposition to the project. If there is a vote in your town concerning this project, voting against the pipeline may be a step towards using less fossil fuels and preserving our irreplaceable natural resources.

-Zoe Pavlik