‘Natural gas is not in the future’: Could a ban on new gas hookups come to Aquidneck Island?

NEWPORT – When state regulators extended the life of a controversial liquefied natural gas facility in Portsmouth last year, they did so with less than whole-hearted support.

The members of the Energy Facility Siting Board accepted Rhode Island Energy’s argument that the LNG storage and vaporization plant on Old Mill Lane in Portsmouth is necessary, at least for the foreseeable future, to back up Aquidneck Island’s natural gas system, which may be vulnerable to disruptions because it’s located at an endpoint of the region’s network of supply pipelines.

In 2021, the environmental groups Conservation Law Foundation and the Acadia Center argued a ban was justified after passage of the Act on Climate, the state law that requires Rhode Island to reach net-zero emissions by 2050.

To read the full article from the Providence Journal, click here.