Thousands Without Heat As Colorado Eco-Terrorists Attack Natural Gas Line

Thousands of residents and businesses in Aspen, Colorado, were left without heat last week after an eco-terrorist attack on natural gas lines disrupted the supply of this essential energy source as the mercury dipped to nearly two degrees above zero.

According to ABC News:

“The FBI has joined a criminal investigation of what police said appears to be an “intentional attack” on gas service lines.

Work crews are scrambling to restore gas service, and local authorities handed out electric space heaters to residents still without heat Tuesday, as a storm is forecast to bring up to 8 inches of snow in the Rocky Mountains region this week. Temperatures are forecast to fall to 2 degrees in Aspen on Tuesday night, according to the National Weather Service.”

Local police handed out nearly 6,000 space heaters to help residents keep warm and prevent their pipes from freezing. Numerous businesses and hotels were forced to shut down due to a lack of natural gas.

County officials had strong words for the act:

“It’s almost, to me, an act of terrorism,” Pitkin County Commissioner Patti Clapper, who lost heat in her home due to the vandalism, told The Aspen Times newspaper. “It’s trying to destroy a mountain community at the height of the holiday season. This wasn’t a national gas glitch. This was a purposeful act. Someone is looking to make a statement of some kind.”

Natural gas is the most affordable energy source for home heating, which is why nearly 66 percent of Minnesota families heat their homes with this fuel.

Unfortunately, several Minnesota organizations want to follow the lead of many California cities by making it illegal to put natural gas in new buildings. Some groups even want to remove natural gas heaters from existing buildings, which would force Minnesotans to purchase new home heating equipment and replace low-cost natural gas with high-cost electricity.

We must use the best tools we have to get the job done. When it comes to home heating in Minnesota, that tool is low-cost, clean-burning natural gas.