As these municipalities are quickly finding out, moving off gas for new buildings doesn’t preclude the utilities from needing to spend tens of millions of dollars each year upgrading the existing gas system.
Jordan Wolman
Jordan Wolman is a senior reporter at CommonWealth Beacon covering climate and energy issues in Massachusetts.
Before joining CommonWealth Beacon, Jordan spent four years at POLITICO in Washington, DC, where he covered the intersection of climate policy and business. His reporting took him from international U.N. plastic pollution negotiations in Ottawa, Canada, to beneath the spinning turbines of an offshore wind farm 27 miles off the coast of Virginia. Jordan focused on taking POLITICO subscribers inside the biggest climate policy debates, including breaking the news that President Joe Biden was planning to take executive action to significantly boost data center construction and that California air regulators were not planning to enforce a landmark state climate law in its first year in effect.
A New Jersey native, Jordan graduated from Lehigh University and launched the first investigative team at the school's paper, The Brown and White.
Posted inEnergy
Senate energy bill seeks to end contentious gas pipe replacement program
The bill reveals just how deep a chasm has formed between the Legislature’s two Democratic-controlled branches over energy policy after the House passed its version in February
Posted inState Government
A climate chief in an era of Trump and energy affordability: Does Melissa Hoffer still get a say?
Given how dramatically the landscape has changed around climate change since Hoffer took office, an obvious question emerges: What exactly is her job? And what kind of influence does she hold within the Healey administration?
Posted inEnvironment
At Massport’s urging, Healey signs tax break for sustainable aviation fuel
Authorizing a pilot program like this is inviting a larger debate about how Massachusetts should weigh the complicated tradeoffs associated with reaching ambitious climate targets, especially for hard-to-decarbonize sectors like air travel.
Posted inEnergy
Two-week pause of Canadian hydropower exposes frailty of Mass. plan to wean off natural gas
The two setbacks signal the continued challenges ahead for how to bring on new clean energy sources to move off fossil fuels and meet growing power needs while maintaining reliability.
Posted inEnvironment
Massachusetts’s slow adoption of EV chargers through federal program is ‘mystifying’ to transit advocates
While Massachusetts ranks fourth in the country for charging ports per capita after a sharp increase in installments over the past few years, the state is still about 2,000 charging ports short of what it estimates it needs.
Posted inPolitics
Political Notebook: A notable absence in the ‘Nature for Massachusetts’ coalition
The Environmental League of Massachusetts, one of the state’s oldest advocacy organizations, is sitting out a ballot campaign backed by some of the bigger names in environmental advocacy.
Posted inEnergy
State regulators are weighing how much to crack down on leaky gas pipes
DEP’s program review is one slice of the central debate animating the dynamic between regulators and the gas companies: whether and how fast the utilities should shift away from delivering gas to customers — their current business model.
Posted inEnvironment
Controversial private jet expansion proposal at Hanscom faces setbacks as developers look to move project ahead
The proposed hangar expansion has roiled activists and officials alike. Critics fear that a spike in air traffic will bring extra noise and emissions, as private flights are widely considered to be the most polluting source of transportation.
Posted inEnergy
Enbridge proposes new gas pipeline expansion in New England, placing Mass. in the crosshairs
Enbridge’s announcement is bound to ignite a firestorm and set off a host of thorny questions, while Gov. Maura Healey’s position on natural gas will again be put to the test as the proposal lands amid her reelection campaign.
Posted inPolitics
Healey’s reelection bid confronts volatile energy politics
Healey’s shift on climate is now starting to bleed into her campaign for a second term as players across the spectrum are looking to leverage their support in the November election to make gains on their issues.
Posted inPolitics
Political Notebook: Data centers get their tax breaks, taxpayer group side-eyes ballot measures
State officials had been working on crafting the tax exemption since the Legislature required it in the 2024 economic development measure that Gov. Maura Healey signed. But 18 months after that law was signed, the tax break comes at a fraught time for the artificial intelligence industry.
Posted inEnvironment
Lowell residents sue data center, state over air quality permit
The legal challenge, filed in Middlesex County Superior Court, comes at a time of heightened scrutiny over data centers and their role in powering artificial intelligence both around the country and within the Bay State.
Posted inState Government
One year after implementing new system, Mass. continues to struggle in issuing unemployment benefits
May will mark the one-year anniversary of the launch of a new unemployment benefits system that was supposed to usher in a better user experience for staff and claimants alike. But delivery of benefits fell at its lowest point last year to the nation’s worst.
Posted inEnvironment
Boston, in new climate plan, opens up possibility of delaying flood insurance discounts
Increasingly severe floods are threatening to put more financial strain on Massachusetts residents’ pockets.
Posted inEnergy
Senate energy chair signals departure from House on $1B cut to Mass Save
Finding consensus on how best to strike a balance between stemming high prices, meeting rising power demand, and achieving ambitious climate commitments has proven fraught.
Posted inEnergy
AG Campbell: Mass. gas companies need to overhaul their climate plans — or face penalties
The central tension: Getting Eversource, National Grid, Unitil, Berkshire Gas, and Liberty to move away from how they currently make money — providing gas to customers.
Posted inState Government
Massachusetts continues to flout a nearly decade-old climate regulation to track state vehicle emissions
The state’s interpretation that a later executive order from Baker supersedes this regulation isn’t sitting well with advocates and legal experts — and risks leaving the public in the dark about the actual pollution stemming from state vehicles.
Posted inEnvironment
Senate passes $3.6 billion environmental bond bill in bipartisan vote
The $3.64 billion bond bill, the state’s first for environmental efforts since 2018, is meant by and large to address the state’s adaptation to a changing climate, though Massachusetts projects the need will far outpace the spending authorized by this measure alone.
Posted inLocal Government
Political Notebook: South Hadley voters reject controversial Proposition 2½ override
The proposals sparked a heated local debate as sluggish state aid growth and strict limits on local tax increases continue to trap many local governments in a difficult position with few options to manage rising costs.
Posted inEnergy
Gasoline price spike bears down on Massachusetts
Average regular gas prices in Massachusetts are now $3.97 per gallon, up sharply from $3.47 a month earlier – and $2.96 a year ago, according to AAA.
Posted inEnergy
‘It’s like Russian roulette’: A Bellingham man’s plan to add solar and battery storage to his home meets a nearly $12K utility price tag
In Massachusetts, as in most states, utilities charge the customer that triggers the need for a grid upgrade the full cost, even if it benefits multiple homes. That turns the system for connecting residential solar projects into a game of chance.
Posted inCourts
Should a community be able to reject a solar project to protect its trees? The SJC wades into the controversy in central Mass.
The justices appeared to be grappling with the genuine desire of a community to protect its character with the limited authority of localities to stall development.
Posted inEnvironment
Climate reckoning: Mass. communities stare down the prospect — and complications — of a retreat from rising waters
Massachusetts is right now engaging in the most robust dialogue in state history around the concept of relocating people, homes, and communities away from places prone to flooding.
