A massive storage facility in Washington state serving the natural gas network that provides electricity and heating fuel to millions of Americans from the Pacific Northwest down to New Mexico went down Saturday evening.
The Jackson Prairie Underground Natural Gas Storage Facility in Lewis County, roughly two hours south of Seattle, suffered a complete outage, triggering an emergency on the 1,500-mile Northwest Pipeline that ships gas to power plants and heating networks across a region currently struck by arctic weather.
The city of Ellensburg in mountainous central Washington issued a statement Saturday urging residents to conserve natural gas.
Gusty winds had already caused scattered power outages across Oregon as the winter storm sprayed the region with snow.
Federal regulators approved an expansion of the Pacific Northwest’s gas network in October. But the investments needed to prop up the fossil fuel system are facing increased scrutiny from those who say the money should be spent on new, zero-carbon energy infrastructure like solar panels and batteries.