Liberty Utilities is pushing hard for their Granite Bridge gas infrastructure project, but this is a risky proposition for New Hampshire. Liberty omits a critical factor from the equation, one that is likely to turn new gas infrastructure investments into stranded assets. Short-sighted bets like Granite Bridge will predictably lead to higher energy prices and delay our state’s transition to cheaper and cleaner 21st-century energy solutions.

Momentum is growing to legislate a federal, market-based revenue neutral climate protection policy like Carbon Fee and Dividend. This is a beneficial, fair and efficient way to account for the social costs of fossil fuels. Without it, energy providers and consumers are being misled by incomplete pricing signals. With it, pollution will drop rapidly, and New Englanders will get an average $1,600 gain in annual after-tax purchasing power in two decades.

Eighty-six congressional representatives have joined the House Bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus (half from each party). The carbon fee and dividend approach has the support of many leading economists – Mankiw, Paulson, Bernanke, Baker, Schulz, Feldstein, Summers, Yellen, etc. – and corporations – Exxon, BP, Shell, GM, J&J, P&G, Santander, MetLife, etc.

Nearly all New Hampshire businesses and households will benefit from an efficient energy market.

Liberty Utilities should add their support rather than push a project from which they are guaranteed to profit and that New Hampshire citizens will likely soon regret. Energy companies that fail to support correcting the energy market failure are implicitly putting their short-term interests ahead of our collective future.

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