WHAT SHOULD WE EXPECT from government regulators? Do we believe they can serve in an austere, removed fashion, eclipsing social context and eliminating personal bias through a mechanical reading of the law? Or do we understand regulatory action, at its core, and the regulatory platform, to be activity in service of the public interest, furthering […]
Joel Wool
Posted inOpinion
No 7th inning stretch needed, just clean energy home runs
This commentary was written by Joel Wool. I’VE NEVER BEEN A FAN of baseball metaphors. If we’re talking efficient use of energy rather than exercise or entertainment, it’s hard to see the utility of hitting a ball and running in circles. But since opponents of clean energy reforms have called for a “7th-inning stretch” to […]
Posted inOpinion
We need to end energy inequality
CLEAN ENERGY BELONGS to us all. We’re talking about the wind and the sun, sources of power that have graced us since the dawn of time. We’re talking about power that cleans our air, improves our health, builds our local economy, and makes our world safer. And let’s not forget that, in states like Massachusetts, […]
Posted inEnvironment, Opinion
No subsidies for gas pipeline projects
IT’S CRUNCH TIME when it comes to the Omnibus Energy Bill that is being debated on Beacon Hill. Lawmakers have to decide if they will continue to promote fossil fuel energy consumption or if they will instead help Massachusetts lead the way in building an economy based on clean, sustainable energy sources. They must decide […]
Posted inEnvironment
It’s time to sunburn National Grid
DURING A 2014 LEGISLATIVE HEARING, one state senator in Massachusetts compared our current utility structure to a Soviet system—bureaucratic, opaque, and inefficient with little public accountability. Hearing National Grid prevaricate about pipelines, energy costs, and privacy concerns in public, it’s really not hard to imagine Nikita Khrushchev yelling “We will bury you!” to the clean […]