The first big change is expected to come in the 2030s, when peak demand for electricity from the power grid will shift to the winter months instead of the summer months. The change is expected to come about as businesses and homeowners begin using electricity to heat the buildings where they work and live.
Bruce Mohl
Bruce Mohl oversees the production of content and edits reports, along with carrying out his own reporting with a particular focus on transportation, energy, and climate issues.
He previously worked at the Boston Globe, where he spent nearly 30 years in a wide variety of positions covering business and politics. He covered the Massachusetts State House and served as the Globe’s State House bureau chief in the late 1980s. He also reported for the Globe’s Spotlight Team, winning a Loeb award in 1992 for coverage of conflicts of interest in the state’s pension system. He served as the Globe’s political editor in 1994 and went on to cover consumer issues for the newspaper.
Bruce is a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.
Posted inPolitics
Uber-progressive Uyterhoeven defeats challenger from right
In the House, incumbent Democrat Rady Mom of Lowell was defeated by challenger Tara Hong by a margin of 47 to 42 percent. On the Governor’s Council, challenger Maura Dolan held a narrow lead over incumbent Marilyn Delaney in a rematch of their election fight two years ago.
Posted inEnergy
Latest GE blade problem blamed on positioning of turbine
A preliminary investigation suggests the blade failure on August 22 at the Dogger Bank wind farm off the coast of the United Kingdom happened because the turbine was left in “a fixed and static position” that made it vulnerable to high winds during a subsequent storm.
Posted inPolitics
Political Notebook: Lawmakers won’t campaign against audit ballot question
Legislative leaders aren’t happy about state Auditor Diana DiZoglio’s call for her office to audit the Legislature, but they aren’t going to mount a campaign against her ballot question granting those powers. The measure seems likely to pass overwhelmingly, and lawmakers instead seem content to wait and pursue a legal challenge to the measure if it’s approved at the ballot box.
Posted inTransportation
Splinter group meeting on transportation funding
Sources say the side-meetings grew out of concern about the slow pace of the task force and frustration with the push for a “tool kit” of revenue options rather than a curated list of preferred options.
Posted inEnergy
GE Vernova reports another blade failure in England
Cambridge-based GE Vernova told the Nantucket Select Board that a turbine at the Dogger Bank wind farm “experienced an isolated blade event that occurred during commissioning.” The company said it is investigating what happened.
Posted inPolitics
Political Notebook: What type of progressive does Somerville want? | Marty Walsh rumblings | Eng on move
As she seeks election to a third term, Uyterhoeven is facing a challenge in the September 3 Democratic primary from Kathleen Hornby, who knows Beacon Hill well from her work as a legislative aide, most recently for Rep. Marjorie Decker of Cambridge. Hornby says she is just as progressive as Uyterhoeven but would approach the job differently to deliver more for the district.
Posted inTransportation
MBTA board, but not Tibbits-Nutt, talks new revenue
Monica Tibbits-Nutt, the secretary of transportation, a member of the MBTA board, and the co-chair of the transportation revenue task force, said nothing during the T board’s discussion about new revenues.
Posted inHousing
Milton makes interesting case on MBTA Communities Act
“This is a case about the separation of powers and the rule of law—about who sets the rules that govern the Commonwealth and how they do so,” says the Milton brief.
Posted inState Government
DiZoglio audit finds ‘unlawful practices’ at convention center authority
Most of the issues cited in the report occurred on the watch of a management team headed by David Gibbons and a board dominated by appointees of former governor Charlie Baker.
Posted inEnergy
Nantucket Select Board no fan of federal wind farm regulator
“Those who say there are no risks posed by industrialization of ocean viewsheds to heritage-tourism and our sense of place have no reliable data to back their claims,” the board said.
Posted inEnergy
Healey all in on offshore wind, but what about Trump?
“We’ve heard a little bit about setbacks lately in this space and we’ve certainly heard people try to knock this industry,” the governor told a crowd at the groundbreaking. “But make no mistake about it. We are not going backward. We are going forward and Massachusetts is going to lead.”
Posted inState Government
Proposals would boost cost of parking, package delivery, rideshares
One of the initiatives would raise fees on rideshares; the other two would impose a new sales tax on privately owned parking spaces and assess a new fee on all retail deliveries.
Posted inEnergy
Suit in works over National Grid methane gas leaks
The Conservation Law Foundation said its lawsuit will be based on data submitted by National Grid to state regulators and the foundation’s own field work testing methane levels in the Boston area.
Posted inEnergy
Vineyard Wind says it is resuming construction
In a joint press release, Vineyard Wind and GE Vernova, the manufacturer of the wind turbines, said a barge departed the New Bedford Marine Commerce Terminal Tuesday morning for the wind farm carrying turbine components, including several tower sections and one nacelle.
Posted inEnergy
Healey urged to go big on offshore wind procurement
In the debate over whether the state should go big or small in this week’s offshore wind procurement, one argument has largely been missing from the go-big side – saving money. Now the go-big forces are marshaling pricing and reliability arguments as well.
Posted inState Government
House, Senate leaders to call lawmakers back into formal session
Both Senate President Karen Spilka and House Speaker Ron Mariano issued statements saying they are interested in resolving differences between the two branches on the bill and then holding a special session to approve it and send it along to the governor so she can sign it into law.
Posted inState Government
Democrats warm to continuing debate on unfinished legislation
Nothing official has been announced, but House Speaker Ron Mariano and members of his leadership team raised that possibility early Thursday morning as it became clear that many of the bills they wanted to pass were not going to make it. Gov. Maura Healey also chimed in, urging action on her economic development legislation.
Posted inEnergy
Finger-pointing galore as climate legislation stalls
The House was content with a bill that did the siting and permitting changes and little else, but the Senate had additional priorities, including language that would begin to rein in the natural gas industry, eliminate the retail electricity industry, and overhaul the way clean energy is procured.
Posted inTransportation
MBTA agrees to pay New Bedford $3m more for land
The dispute has been simmering for years, with the T low-balling the city initially and then refusing to budge. The fight spilled over into the political arena, with local lawmakers accusing New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell of being too greedy and endangering the long-delayed South Coast Rail project.
Posted inTransportation
Eng says MBTA becoming more and more reliable
Eng also announced that a 24-day shutdown of the Braintree branch of the Red Line in September will eliminate 20 speed restrictions and lay the foundation for raising the top speed of trains on that branch from 40 to 50 miles per hour by early December. Subway trains haven’t gone that fast for decades, T officials say.
Posted inHousing
Lobbying intensifies on BlueHub mortgage amendment
A four-year court battle over the shared appreciation mortgages is coming to a head this September, but BlueHub isn’t waiting for a court judgment.
Posted inHealth Care
Steward to close hospitals in Dorchester, Ayer
Carney Hospital and Nashoba Valley Medical Center will be closing on or around August 31, 2024, Steward said.
Posted inTransportation
Political notebook: Healey’s ‘tool kit’ task force | Pushback on merger of state agencies
“What we are really hoping to give [to the governor] is a tool kit that lists sources and uses. I am not so sure – again, I’m not a member of the task force, I’m staff to the task force — that they will get to the prioritization level. It’s possible, but we haven’t really discussed that yet.”