Dear friends of CLF.

• Author: Warburg, Phil

MAINTAINING A VIABLE ENERGY MIX IN NEW ENGLAND INVOLVES TOUGH TRADE-OFFS. Much as we'd all love to embrace a renewable energy future in which fossil fuel dependence was a half-forgotten relic, getting there requires hard work and a sober reckoning with imperfect choices.

Our last issue of CM looked at the important role of wind power and energy conservation in moving us away from fossil fuels. This CM probes the need for reliable supplies of a key transitional fuel: natural gas. CLF has long advocated for the use of natural gas as a cleaner transportation fuel and a less-polluting alternative to coal and oil for power production. Natural gas today produces nearly 40 percent of New England's electricity and fuels many of our urban buses. We're all breathing cleaner, healthier air as a result.

But domestic supplies of natural gas are limited, so we must find reliable ways to augment those supplies from overseas. This calls for transporting the fuel in highly condensed liquid form aboard tankers--a risky business made riskier in the...