Megan Hall: Welcome to Possibly, where we take on huge problems like the future of our planet and break them down into small questions with unexpected answers. I’m Megan Hall.
It’s getting colder, and a lot of people are turning on their furnaces. Many of those run on “natural” gas, which is basically methane, a potent greenhouse gas.
So, what do we do about these emissions? We had Janek Schaller and Juliana Merullo, from our Possibly team, look into this tricky question.
Janek Schaller: Hey, Megan!
Juliana Merullo: Hiya!
Megan Hall: First off, why are we concerned about using natural gas?
Janek Schaller: Natural gas is used for both heating and electricity generation, and burning it is responsible for about ⅓ of all US emissions.
Megan Hall: Is Rhode Island doing anything to reduce those emissions?
Juliana Merullo: In fact, we have to! The 2021 Act on Climate requires the state to get to net-zero by the year 2050, so we’ll have to rethink our relationship with natural gas if we want to meet that target.
Megan Hall: So who’s responsible for figuring out what changes need to be made?
Janek Schaller: This is another job for our friends at the Public Utility Commission…
Megan Hall: Remind me who they are…?
Janek Schaller: The Public Utility Commission, or PUC, regulates the utility companies in each state and assesses the rates they charge consumers for water, electricity, and gas.
Megan Hall: Gas, as in natural gas?
Juliana Merullo: Exactly – so you can start to see how the utilities tie in to this. To meet the state’s emission goals, utility companies will need to make changes to the way they operate. And THOSE changes may affect the cost of energy.
Megan Hall: Which is where the PUC comes into play–
Janek Schaller: Right. One of their jobs is deciding whether utility companies are making “prudent investments.”
Megan Hall: What does that mean?
Juliana Merullo: That’s a really important question. We spoke with Todd Bianco, the Chief Economic and Policy Analyst for Rhode Island’s Public Utilities Commission, to get a better idea:
Todd Bianco: “The issue of prudence often comes to what a reasonable company would have done to serve its customers.”
Janek Schaller: Todd says if a utility can provide compelling evidence that a new investment – like repairs to its natural gas lines – would help them better serve their customers, then the PUC will let them increase their prices.
Juliana Merullo: In this case, the most piece of evidence is that Act on Climate that Rhode Island passed in 2021. It mandated emissions reductions for Rhode Island’s gas sector.
Janek Schaller: In other words, our state law has now officially made it “prudent” to reconsider our use of natural gas.
Megan Hall: Got it. So what does the future of gas look like, according to the Public Utilities Commission?
Juliana Merullo: Right now, they are still gathering information, since this is a pretty contentious issue.
Janek Schaller: Before making a final call, the PUC has decided to organize a stakeholder group to get more input on how best to decarbonize the gas sector. Todd says this buys everyone a little time.
Todd Bianco:“It would be too early for folks to begin to settle their differences. No one should feel the pressure that they need to begin to compromise on what they want yet.”
Megan Hall: But how long is this process going to take? I mean, we don’t have a lot of time when it comes to reducing our greenhouse gas emissions.
Janek Schaller: Todd says getting more opinions is a crucial part of the process. And besides, the biggest issue has already been resolved.
Megan Hall: And what would that be?
Juliana Merullo: Whether or not we have to transition to renewable energy at all. As Todd puts it,
Todd Bianco: “The question of is it prudent to eliminate emissions from the gas system has been answered already by the legislature: it is prudent and not only is it prudent, it must be done.”
Megan Hall: So what happens once the stakeholder group has done its thing?
Juliana Merullo: While they may not reach complete consensus, the group will eventually share their findings with the Public Utilities Commission, who will ultimately decide which course of action to take.
Janek Schaller: Those recommendations will largely be based on which approaches will create the most benefit for consumers while also minimizing cost for the utility, all while getting us to the emissions targets laid out in state law. We’ll have more on what those options might look like in a later episode.
Megan Hall: Keep us posted – thanks, Janek and Juliana!
That’s it for today. For more information, or to ask a question about the way your choices affect our planet, go to the public’s radio dot org slash possibly. Or subscribe to us wherever you get your podcasts.
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Possibly is a co-production of The Public’s Radio, Brown University’s Institute for Environment and Society and Brown’s Climate Solutions Initiative.
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