'Growing fuel security risk': New England has a growing fuel security problem that will make keeping the lights on more “tenuous,” especially during winter months, the region’s grid operator warned. January’s cold snap only highlighted problems with the region’s growing reliance on natural gas without adequate pipeline capacity, and the problem will only grow as more coal, oil and nuclear power plants shut down. “This growing fuel security risk is making reliable operations more tenuous,” Gordon van Welie, president of ISO New England, said on Wednesday during his “State of the Grid” presentation.