GAS LEAKS KILL TREES
The Gas Transition Allies support legislation to protect trees and support reforestation.
We want a state program to provide technical support, guidance, and funding for cities and towns to develop Urban Forest Plans, including:
Planting and caring for new trees on both public and private property.
Prioritizing environmental justice areas with the lowest tree canopy cover.
Providing flexibility so that each municipality can meet its unique needs.
Two provisions that would help protect trees from gas leaks are:
Reclassifying any leak detected within the critical root zone of a tree as a Grade 2 leak, accelerating its repair.
Allowing municipalities to file claims to be reimbursed for the replacement cost of trees killed by gas leaks.
Leaking gas in the soil can harm or kill trees by suffocating their roots.
Tree roots must “breathe,” but leaking gas in the soil can displace the oxygen they need to survive.
Several factors can weaken a tree at the same time. Gas leaks can make trees more vulnerable to impacts of other stressors like drought, insects, and fungal diseases.
If any gas is detected within the critical root zone of a tree and there is visible crown dieback in the canopy, then gas is harming the tree.
Utilities are not fixing gas leaks that endanger trees.
Gas companies used to train their workers to use dead and dying trees as an indicator of leaking gas. They also used to fix gas leaks that impacted trees.
As the gas infrastructure began deteriorating more rapidly, this practice became too expensive, so utilities stopped repairing gas leaks that harm street trees unless the leaks also pose an immediate danger of explosion.
If the leaking gas can be vented into the atmosphere and doesn’t build up to explosive concentrations, it’s not considered a hazardous leak.
We are paying the costs of gas leaks that kill trees.
Not only are gas customers paying for leaking gas, but taxpayers are also paying to replace street trees killed by gas leaks.
Trees provide “ecosystem services” to our communities and mitigate climate change by:
Cooling buildings and sidewalks.
Slowing stormwater runoff and excess rainfall.
Filtering particulate pollution out of the air.
Street trees are also associated with reduced crime rates and better physical and mental health.
Every community deserves to have healthy trees lining its streets and sidewalks. Environmental justice communities tend to have fewer trees and lower canopy cover, meaning they’re more likely to be heat islands.
Gas companies should be required to fix gas leaks that are destroying this public resource, wasting taxpayer dollars, and reducing the climate resilience of communities.
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Gas Transition Allies tree experts explain how gas leaks kill trees.
LEARN MORE
Natural gas leaks and tree death: A first-look case-control study of urban trees in Chelsea, MA
A study from Gas Transition Allies expert Bob Ackley and others finding that dead street trees in Chelsea, Massachusetts are thirty times more likely to have gas in the soil of the planting area
The Surprising Root of the Massachusetts Fight Against Natural Gas
A short history of the Gas Transition Allies—our origins and our continuing work on tree protection, gas leaks, and environmental justice
Gas Injury to Trees and Shrubs
A technical report on gas leak injuries to trees produced by Bartlett Tree Research Laboratory