Our studies suggest that the key is carefully structured negotiations that lead to enforceable agreement. At the project level, this is accomplished through enforceable community benefit agreements, or CBAs.
Energy
Posted inEnergy
Commission pushes speedier approval process for clean energy infrastructure
The tone of the report is balanced, but the recommendations would concentrate more power in the hands of the state’s Energy Facilities Siting Board.
Posted inEnergy
National Grid says Biden-backed transmission line ‘not viable’
The Twin States Clean Energy Link was considered a novel transmission line because it sought to transmit electricity in both directions – energy going from New England to Quebec when the region had a surplus and electricity flowing to New England when Quebec had a surplus.
Posted inOpinion
High electricity rates undermine heat pump expansion
What will it take to change course? Building more transmission from affordable Canadian hydropower in Quebec? Streamlining permitting for offshore wind? Permit reform for transmission? I’m all for any of those.
Posted inEnergy
The case for saving Everett LNG terminal
Now that the Mystic power plant is shutting down, the fear of electricity shortages dissipating, the Everett terminal is being pitched as a hedge against a possible shortage of natural gas for home heating and cooking.
Posted inOpinion
Geothermal pilot in Framingham could be key decarbonization answer
It’s a first-in-the-nation utility scale networked geothermal system, which works by harnessing the earth’s ambient temperature and Eversource is betting similar systems can be built across Massachusetts.
Posted inEnergy
Somerset files criminal complaint against town’s largest land owner
The town of Somerset is pursuing a criminal complaint – and more than $3 million in fines – in connection with a zoning dispute involving the company that owns Brayton Point, a 300-acre property that hopes to become a staging point for the state’s emerging offshore wind industry. Somerset officials say a private criminal complaint […]
Posted inOpinion
Meeting climate goals requires new policy, funding
There are statutory, policy, and funding changes we must adopt if we are to meet our climate goals.Â
Posted inGovernment
Richie Neal wants to make a deal Â
The ethos of compromise has been Neal’s guiding light over four decades in politics. In today’s hyper partisan climate, it’s often reviled as a sign of weakness.
Posted inOpinion
Mass. Decarbonization Roadmap radically underestimates costs
We should not flinch from the possibility that an honest reassessment of the required resources may leave us no choice but to reassess our goals for retrofit of existing buildings.