Natural gas: friend or foe? With region's climate goals at risk, CLF works to keep gas in check.

• Position: Cover story

Route 74, the two-lane Vermont highway that runs from Lake Champlain to Cornwall, has become the focal point for yard signs reflecting deep unease about a 41 mile proposed natural gas pipeline extension through Addison and Chittenden counties. Another phase of the controversial project would run a new gas pipeline under Lake Champlain.

Conservation Law Foundation and local environmental groups are expressing serious concerns with the project, which would cut through valuable farmland and fragment 51 large forested wetlands. Of equal importance is the impact the pipeline would have in expanding the region's reliance on natural gas, tying New England's energy supplies to fossil fuels for another 50 to 100 years. Unless done carefully and thoughtfully, new gas infrastructure will make it increasingly difficult to meet state and regional goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent by 2050.

"We cannot build our long-term energy future on a plan to extract and burn more natural gas," said John Kassel, CLF President. "If we build big natural gas capacity now, we'll be locking ourselves into a future of endless fossil fuel."

The proposed Vermont pipeline extension is an example of what CLF believes is irrational enthusiasm for new gas infrastructure as an answer to the reliability challenges presented by the region's steep increase in natural gas use in recent years. Instead, CLF would like to see the regional grid operator, ISO-New England, focus on increased efficiency, renewable energy integration and better market design.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

CLF's natural gas advocacy is built on a set of principles that recognize both the short-term economic and environmental benefits of natural gas while highlighting deep concerns about the long-term impacts that overreliance on natural gas would have on our climate and crucial renewable energy development.

On the benefits side of the ledger, said N. Jonathan Peress, Director of CLF's Clean Energy and Climate Change program, cheap and plentiful natural gas is helping New England move away from the dirtier coal and oil-burning plants that the region has relied upon for over half a century, and, if managed correctly, can hasten the region's transition to clean, renewable energy.

One critical role natural gas can play in New England is to provide a reliable back up for intermittent wind and solar power. "When the wind doesn't blow and the sun doesn't shine, gas can play an important rote in...