The corporate utility’s latest request to spend $215 million of customer money will continue to drive up bills yet fail to keep the District safe from gas leaks

WASHINGTON, D.C. —Washington Gas is seeking to charge customers $215 million to continue replacing its methane gas pipelines, whether they need it or not, in a filing to the D.C. Public Service Commission (PSC) late last week. Despite the corporation’s recent attempt to rebrand the program, mounting evidence suggests that the over-budget pipeline replacement project has failed to keep the District safe from the dangers of methane gas.

The so-called “new” plan, District Safe, echoes the utility’s controversial “Project Pipes” program, which put D.C. residents’ health and safety at risk while raising rates to pay for a project that contradicts D.C.’s climate commitments. The PSC unanimously rejected the company’s $672 million pipeline spending request for Project Pipes in June because the company failed to show the program was measurably reducing methane gas leaks or climate-warming pollution. This recent filing shows Washington Gas has failed to address either concern.

Local ratepayer, climate, and interfaith advocates issued the following statements:

Earthjustice attorney Tim Oberleiton, who represents the Sierra Club in the Washington Gas pipeline spending plan before the PSC:

“Plastering a new name on this plan does not make it any less dangerous or wasteful. Replacing gas pipes goes against District residents’ desire to go fully electric and abandon their reliance on methane. The PSC has an obligation to ratepayers to ensure they don’t shoulder the burden of an asset we will not use in a few decades.”

Pastor Andre Greene, Washington Interfaith Network Strategy Team member:

“Our neighbors and community members who already face mounting utility debt and rising costs on all sides cannot afford another energy rate hike all to pad the pockets of wealthy corporate executives. This $215 million request is the latest attempt to boost their profits while continuing to put our health and safety at risk. We need real solutions like the Healthy Homes Act, which will go into effect starting this October, to deliver clean, affordable energy that will protect our most vulnerable communities, lower our bills, and clean up our air.”

Mark Rodeffer, Sierra Club’s National Building Electrification Campaign Co-lead:

“Washington Gas wants to lock DC residents into decades of paying billions of dollars for wasteful fossil fuel pipeline spending that pollutes our air, increases our housing costs, and warms our climate. It’s time for DC’s Public Service Commission to stand up to the corporate gas utility and stand up for DC residents by rejecting this wasteful plan.”

Andrea Orozco, Faithful Advocacy Lead at Interfaith Power & Light DC.MD.NoVA:

“We are in the midst of a climate crisis. As our neighbors in the South pick up from the wreckage of the latest climate-fueled hurricane, devastating entire communities, DC’s leaders cannot continue to rubber stamp costly fossil fuel spending. Washington Gas’s outdated, polluting methane gas pipelines is not only holding us back from reaching our climate goals, but taking us down the wrong path. The Public Service Commission must reject this request, and the DC Council must act to move us beyond gas. The time to invest in clean, affordable energy is now.”

Ayla Frost, DC Organizer with the CCAN Action Fund said:

“This ‘new’ plan is not new at all. District Safe represents the same flawed approach as Project Pipes, hidden behind a misleading misnomer. The project is over budget, behind schedule, and in direct opposition to DC’s climate neutrality objectives. Washington Gas wants to charge customers $215 million to keep the District hooked on dangerous and polluting fossil fuels. It’s time for D.C. to move beyond gas and transition to cleaner, safer, healthier, and more affordable energy options.”