DC Environmental Groups Release Video Attacking Washington Gas’s “Project Pipes” Ripoff Plan

WASHINGTON, DC – Eight prominent DC environmental groups today released a powerful new video attacking Washington Gas’s plan to unnecessarily replace nearly all of the city’s gas pipes in coming decades at a cost of approximately $27,000 per current DC gas customer.[1] The company’s wasteful “Project Pipes” is a $4.5-billion ripoff for consumers and a disaster for the city’s climate pollution reduction goals.

This hard-hitting, two-minute video lays out all the reasons why this is a “Project Ripoff.” The project would involve digging up nearly every gas pipeline in the city — whether it’s broken or not — rather than finding and fixing just the leaky ones. And it would saddle these excessive costs onto every DC ratepayer, with a disproportionate impact on the poorest and most vulnerable residents. All told, this project would keep the District addicted to methane gas for the next 40 years and beyond, worsening climate change and public health.

WATCH THE VIDEO ON YOUTUBE HERE

“For too long, Washington Gas (WGL) has hidden its insanely expensive, irresponsible, and climate-damaging plans behind the anonymity of the DC Public Service Commission, the agency with the power to regulate the gas utility,” said Naomi Cohen-Shields, DC Coordinator at CCAN Action Fund. “We refuse to let them continue sabotaging our health and greenwashing their way into our pocketbooks for decades to come.”

“The whole plan is contrary to both DC’s official climate goal of carbon neutrality by 2045 and DC’s mission to switch all new buildings to exclusively electric appliances in the coming years,“ the video states. “…Together, we can make our leaders listen when we say that we need safe, affordable, climate-friendly alternatives to methane gas. Not new pipelines.”

The new public-service video encourages DC residents to sign a petition calling on the DC Public Service Commission (PSC) to reject the plan and for the DC Council to hold the PSC accountable on future climate issues.

This campaign is a collaboration of CCAN Action Fund, Beyond Gas DC, DC Environmental Network, Earthjustice, Extinction Rebellion DC Chapter, Interfaith Power & Light, Nature Forward, the Sierra Club DC Chapter, and other local partners.

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CCAN Action Fund is the advocacy arm of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, the oldest and largest grassroots organization dedicated exclusively to raising awareness about the impacts and solutions associated with global warming in the Chesapeake Bay region. For 20 years, CCAN has been at the center of the fight for clean energy and wise climate policy in Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and Washington, D.C.