ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT
CommonWealth Beacon breaks down the latest energy and environmental policy news in Massachusetts, including moves in renewable energy, conservation, and innovation.
A pilot program in Plymouth hopes to crack the code on insurance in coastal communities
The insurance challenge for coastal states like Massachusetts has been a vexing one. Inflation and tariffs are scrambling rebuilding costs, and the rise in climate-driven natural disasters has contributed to a recent increase in private insurers not renewing policies and the state’s insurer-of-last-resort seeing a growth in the number of enrollees.
Massachusetts utilities, Canadian hydro company file dueling lawsuits over new transmission line
The unfolding legal drama marks a major pivot point for a project intended to provide 20 percent of Massachusetts’s electricity — and exposes just how fragile and volatile the state’s energy mix continues to be.
For Healey, a delicate dance with the utilities emerges during election season
Healey can cast the utility companies as a critical partner when it’s advantageous for her to do so — or turn them into a political punching bag and convenient foil when it benefits her.
SJC says Nahant can take Northeastern University land
“In short, the town’s stated purpose for the taking is a proper public purpose” that aligned with past actions by the town indicating interest in preserving the area, and not a bad faith ploy, wrote Justice Elizabeth Dewar for a unanimous court.
Melissa Hoffer, nation’s first state-level climate chief, to step down
Hoffer was chosen for the new position after holding several high-powered roles in climate policy, serving under then-AG Healey before working at the Biden administration’s Environmental Protection Agency and then moving back to the Bay State to link up with Healey again under this newly crafted role.
A climate shake-up is jolting one of the most progressive cities in Mass.
The question is whether, in the end, it’s more of a mundane municipal reorganization or a sign of retreat in Newton, one of the state’s most climate-forward communities.
Lawmakers appear poised to take some big swings against competitive electric suppliers. How big is the question.
The pushback comes as Democrats on Beacon Hill are on the cusp of a long-sought breakthrough to rein in what critics contend are shady energy companies that rip off unwitting customers.
‘Future-proof’ or ‘a strategic mistake’? Inside the MBTA’s effort to electrify its commuter rail system
The first battery-powered trains will start running on the Fairmount Line more than a decade after MBTA overseers called for electrifying the system, and they’ll be eye-wateringly expensive. Is that just the price and pace of a transformative project?
Mass. regulators approve new plan to shield solar customers from unexpected price spikes
The move, adopted with buy-in from the energy industry, advocates, and state officials, could save thousands of electric customers looking to install solar panels across the state from being saddled with last-minute, seemingly random charges that could stretch past $10,000 per project.
Political Notebook: Layoffs the latest sign of trouble for clean energy
The state agency tasked with turbocharging the state’s green economy laid off 11 employees, citing a “challenging funding landscape” amid federal headwinds.
Massachusetts is second state to appoint heat resilience officer
Schlick will coordinate state government agencies and work with communities to “prepare for rising temperatures, protect public health and reduce the impacts of extreme heat,” according to a press release from Gov. Maura Healey’s office.
Healey, in new letter, urges MWRA to meet the ‘pressing needs’ of Quabbin Reservoir communities
Healey, through her letter to the head of the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority, is wading into an escalating battle between small towns along the Quabbin and the quasi-public agency that uses that water to serve 2.7 million residents in 61 communities mostly in and around Boston.
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