While the entire nation wrestles with a lethal pandemic, the gas industry is rushing ahead with costly, unnecessary and ill-considered expansion projects. At the same time, fossil fuel companies are working behind the scenes with their legislative allies to make anti-gas activism a felony. It’s a double whammy.
Here in Massachusetts and across the country, gas companies are scrambling to finish their pipelines, compressor stations and LNG facilities while they still can. They know that the economics of energy production have turned against them and that investors are already backing away. Utilities continue to claim that fossil gas is the cheap way to go, even though they know that, for customers, new infrastructure doesn’t lower the price of gas; it raises it. But as we explained in our last blog post, the gas industry is desperate to grab the potential profits that regulators guarantee for new construction – even if these projects stand zero chance of ever providing a return on investment for ratepayers. So, while other non-essential business activity is halted in order to keep workers safe and healthy, the gas projects steam on.
Simultaneously, the gas industry is making a legislative power grab. Having worked with the Trump administration to undermine environmental rules and streamline approvals for new projects, fossil fuel companies are now using the national pandemic emergency as cover to get state legislatures to toughen penalties for civil disobedience protests against what the industry deceptively calls “critical infrastructure.”
Since the middle of March, while we’ve been told to stay in our homes and keep away from public gatherings, three states – Kentucky, South Dakota and West Virginia – have all passed laws converting common protest tactics from misdemeanors to felonies. The new legislation is all part of a coordinated effort at intimidation, similar to new laws passed in Oklahoma and Texas – and under consideration in at least six more states.
Could the same thing happen in New England? For now, probably not. But the fossil fuel industry still has plenty of money and political clout to pressure state governments. Gas companies want to push through unnecessary and wasteful new projects – and they want to intimidate anybody who stands in their way. And it’s increasingly clear that the industry is more than willing to use the distraction of a national emergency to get its way – while no one is paying attention.