To the Editor:

Electrical rate increase is upon us. Yes indeed, a steep increase in your electrical bill is coming very soon!

We, in New England, are really unfortunate as we pay the highest electrical rate in the US, with the possible exception of Hawaii. This is not new, but our politicians seem surprised and offended by this “unconscionable and unacceptable” rate hike as US Senator Blumenthal put it recently.  In his usual posture, Senator Blumenthal reacted by blaming a business (CL&P in that case) for the unwelcome news, without trying to sort out any rational explanation.

One would think that in this era of plentiful natural gas, New England power companies would be switching to this relatively clean fuel. Unfortunately, there is not enough pipeline capacity to bring the fuel to our region and our political leaders (US Senators and others) have been badly advised by their doctrinaire staff on the matter of pipeline construction, as demonstrated by their position on the construction of the Keystone pipeline.

Here are some general and indisputable facts about pipelines: Oil and gas pipelines are the cheapest way to move oil and gas on land; It is much safer to move oil and gas by pipelines rather than railroads or some other transportation mode on land; Moving oil and gas by pipeline is less polluting than other means of transportation.

Some of the effects of this situation are that home electrical bills are moving up at a fast clip and jobs are moving south because industry cannot compete when it is handicapped with high energy costs.

I am frustrated and tired of observing our political leaders react to problems rather than act and anticipate. It has been long well known that energy is very costly in New England, so what are our leaders doing about it?  Not much at all.

We need different and inspired leaders who come to the political scene with a wealth of experience and who are willing to go the extra mile to complete their “homework”.

Dom Nocturne, PhD

36 Key Rock Road, Newtown                    December 21, 2014