ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT
CommonWealth Beacon breaks down the latest energy and environmental policy news in Massachusetts, including moves in renewable energy, conservation, and innovation.
A proposed moratorium on data centers hits resistance in Mass. Senate
The back-and-forth nature of data center policy in Massachusetts raises the question: Do Bay State policymakers want to draw in these facilities, which can provide some jobs and property tax benefits, or not?
Despite being disproportionately impacted by air pollution, many Gateway Cities don’t have state-run air quality monitors
Of these 26 former industrial cities, 17 do not have state-operated air quality monitors. At a time when environmental justice communities are even more at risk due to federal rollbacks to clean air protections, the lack of monitors has some advocates speaking out as climate change continues to lay the groundwork for the dangerously hot and dry conditions that fuel wildfires.
Wu, feds unveil plan to tackle sea level rise in Boston
The draft plan is set to act as a roadmap for how New England’s largest city can navigate the more than four feet of sea level rise the Army Corps projects will hit Boston by 2090.
A Mass Save reform generating consensus among lawmakers is drawing blowback from advocates
The change under consideration by the Legislature would impose new income verification requirements on only the moderate-income customers in the state’s 21 designated equity communities.
The air they breathe
EPA cuts in Springfield and Hampden County affect programs sending trained staff into homes to help families manage asthma triggers like mold, dust, old carpeting, and poor ventilation.
SJC sides with solar developer in dispute with Petersham officials
The case before the justices laid bare the rising tensions over local control between solar developers and small communities across the state that are potential prime spots for large solar arrays thanks to their relatively cheap and abundant land.
Ten communities in Massachusetts went ‘fossil fuel free.’ Then utilities spent $100M on natural gas infrastructure there.
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.
With public health at stake, many Boston hospitals struggle to meet the city’s air pollution goals
“If the city wants to make real progress on climate goals, the building sector is where the biggest changes have to happen.”
Energy policy pressure points reflected in amendments
The Senate on Wednesday takes up a sweeping energy bill aimed at affordability, one that boosters say will save ratepayers more than $14 billion over a decade. But first, senators have more than 180 ideas to reshape it.
When the heat doesn’t stop
The loss of funds has disrupted a network of heat-related initiatives across Massachusetts, many supported through EPA environmental justice grants.
In New Bedford, Healey celebrates completion of Vineyard Wind project as the company faces financial disputes
Gov. Maura Healey along with Massachusetts labor and energy leaders celebrated the completion of the country’s first commercial-scale offshore wind project, which concluded construction in March. She touted its benefits while shrugging off the wind development company’s recent financial disputes that have made headlines and threatened the project.
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
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