AMERICANS CAN FINALLY breathe clean air and a sigh of relief as we see the path ahead to our clean energy future. For decades, the prospects for a livable future looked dim as we fought an uphill battle to make sure the United States would fully embrace climate action and clean energy. Congress has been […]
Climate change
Posted inOpinion
Keep climate in mind entering voting booth
FOR THE MILLIONS of Massachusetts voters who worry about the consequences of climate change and our role and responsibility in the Commonwealth to fight it, the 2022 primary and general elections will be our most important statewide elections in a generation. With open seats for all of our statewide constitutional offices, voters will have a […]
Posted inEnergy, Environment
Maine court revives Mass.-financed hydroelectric power line
THE MAINE SUPREME Judicial Court on Tuesday breathed new life into a Massachusetts-financed power line designed to carry hydroelectricity from Canada to Lewiston and from there into the New England power grid. Fifty-nine percent of Maine voters passed a law in November that retroactively blocked the transmission line from being built through the heavily wooded […]
Posted inEnvironment
Boston seeks to join state pilot banning gas hookups in new construction
BOSTON MAYOR Michelle Wu said on Tuesday that she wants the city to join a state pilot program allowing 10 municipalities to ban fossil fuel infrastructure in most new construction, but she’s a bit late to the party. Boston’s participation fits with Wu’s broader climate change vision and would bolster the 10-community experiment administered by […]
Posted inEducation, Energy, Environment, Opinion
Schools are missing from the state’s climate plan
ON THURSDAY, Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker signed into law a landmark climate bill which affirms, for the first time, that schools are part of the state’s leadership on climate. What’s missing is a plan that will turn that affirmation into action. The Green and Healthy Schools provision in the climate bill, originally filed by Sen. […]
Posted inEnergy, Environment
Baker signs climate bill, despite ‘deep misgivings’
DESPITE “DEEP MISGIVINGS’ about some of its elements, Gov. Charlie Baker signed into law on Thursday a climate change/energy bill that he said would help Massachusetts retain its standing as a national leader in securing renewable energy. It’s the fourth climate bill Baker has signed since taking office in 2015, and his signing letter suggested it […]
Posted inEnergy, Environment
Baker in take-it-or-leave-it position on climate bill
THE LEGISLATURE returned compromise climate legislation to Gov. Charlie Baker on Sunday and urged him to sign it into law even though he didn’t get all the changes he wanted. Rep. Jeffrey Roy of Franklin, the House chair of the Legislature’s energy committee, gave a speech in which he appealed to Baker to follow his […]
Posted inOpinion
Walking the hope tightrope
THE FOSSIL FUEL industry thrives on fatalist climate change messaging and, so far, they’re winning For many Americans, Fourth of July weekend is the summer kickoff. Some of my best childhood memories of barbecues and pool parties often entailed long road trips. No social media to scroll through on a family car ride, no depressing […]
Posted inOpinion
State not living up to environmental justice responsibilities
JUST OVER A YEAR after Gov. Charlie Baker signed “An Act Creating a Next-Generation Roadmap for Massachusetts Climate Policy,” which contained protections for environmental justice populations, the state has found itself roiled in controversy for sacrificing the health and well-being of those very same, protected populations. Investigative reporting revealed that the Massachusetts Department of Transportation […]
Posted inOpinion
Don’t pit housing crisis against climate crisis
TODAY IN MASSACHUSETTS, both the Baker administration and the Legislature – and some individual communities, too – are working on proposed “net zero” policies to address the climate crisis. Dramatic building code changes are intended to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from buildings. However, they would undeniably also impose increased costs on new residential construction, and […]