Roy Matthews writes in The Wall Street Journal on the reason why heating prices are so high in New England.
- New Englanders have opposed the building of new energy infrastructure like pipelines for years.
- Because of Jones Act restrictions, the region’s lack of pipelines means that New England has to import oil and from areas like Africa which leads to increased costs and more emissions.
- New England has also failed to extend its current fleet of nuclear power plants or build new ones, despite the fact that nuclear energy is safe, reliable, and carbon-free.
- To lower costs for consumers and businesses, New England should increase its energy infrastructure and adopt an “all of the above” strategy.
“Constructing energy infrastructure to bring reliable natural gas to New England ought to be a top priority for state legislators. Yet leaders of New England states have doubled-down on their decarbonization plans. Maine Gov. Janet Mills is seeking to achieve what she calls ‘deep decarbonization’ of the state. Last year Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont axed a contract to build a natural-gas plant in Killingly, on the state’s border with Rhode Island. This year Connecticut’s two largest utilities hiked their rates by 43%, citing ‘supply-chain constraints.’ Massachusetts’ largest utility increased monthly rates by 64% because of “higher electric supply prices.”
Read the full article here.
The views and opinions expressed are those of the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of C3.
