CLIMATE POLICY is in a holding pattern. The D.C. Circuit court is deliberating on the future of EPA’s “Clean Power Plan” regulation of carbon pollution from existing power plants. Stakeholders […]
Electricity
Posted inEnvironment, Opinion
States are where clean energy action is
ON THE ISSUE OF CLIMATE CHANGE and energy policy, the candidates for president couldn’t be farther apart, as evidenced by their brief exchange at last week’s first debate. For Hillary […]
Posted inEnvironment, Opinion
Pilgrim is safe, shouldn’t close early
DESPITE ASSERTIONS TO THE CONTRARY, the facts demonstrate that the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station has run very reliably in recent years. For calendar year 2014, our capacity factor was 97 […]
Posted inEnvironment, Opinion
Baker’s energy policy only part right
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER’S FLURRY of announcements on climate change and clean energy has elicited cautiously optimistic praise from some sustainable energy advocates. While many details of the administration’s new initiatives are yet […]
Posted inEnvironment, Opinion
From too cheap to meter to too risky to run
NUCLEAR OPERATORS in California, Connecticut, Illinois, and New York are asking state lawmakers for additional monies—above and beyond the market prices of electricity and electric capacity—to keep their plants open […]
Posted inEnvironment
Baker rolling out new solar incentives
THE BAKER ADMINISTRATION is preparing to roll out the draft of a new solar incentive program on Friday that sets a ceiling on subsidies and is expected to reduce their […]
Posted inEnvironment, Opinion
State on verge of clean energy transformation
SOMETIMES INCREMENTAL CHANGES result in a patchwork of policies whose larger significance may be missed – and along with it major opportunities. That is the case with Massachusetts energy policy […]
Posted inEnvironment, State House News Service
Study: Storage could deliver 600 MW in 10 years
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE WITH THE RIGHT amount of encouragement, energy storage technology – a field that can range from batteries to more novel contraptions – could account for 600 […]
Posted inEnvironment
Offshore wind firms eye New Bedford
STATE OFFICIALS ON TUESDAY signed a non-binding letter of intent with three companies who all agreed to use the New Bedford Marine Commerce Terminal as a staging area if they […]
Posted inEnvironment, Opinion
Baker is right; we need gas pipeline
Gov. Charlie Baker is right to push for a new natural gas pipeline. His support for renewable energy – solar and wind – is fully compatible with his support for […]
Posted inEnvironment, State House News Service
MIT dean talks fusion with govs, premiers
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE AN ACADEMIC’S IDEAS about what the future might hold inspired Gov. Charlie Baker to invite him to speak to Canadian premiers and New England governors. Speaking […]
Posted inEnvironment
Baker still wants new natural gas pipeline
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER is continuing to push for a new natural gas pipeline into the region, but at a conference on Monday with fellow New England governors and Canadian premiers […]
Posted inEnvironment, Opinion
Time to turn page on natural gas
AS REPORTED LAST WEEK, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled that a utility-proposed cost-recovery scheme – the “pipeline tax” that would have helped finance Spectra’s Access Northeast project – violated […]
Posted inEnvironment, Opinion
Gas pipeline firm says it’s full-speed ahead
What follows is a letter from the three top officials of Access Northeast to New England policymakers on the need for new natural gas pipeline infrastructure in the region. […]
Posted inEnvironment
SJC nixes ‘pipeline tax’
THE SUPREME JUDICIAL COURT ruled on Wednesday that the Baker administration can not authorize the state’s electric utilities to tap their ratepayers for the money to finance a new natural […]
Posted inEnvironment, State House News Service
Baker inks long-sought energy law
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE GOV. CHARLIE BAKER sat in the sun on the State House lawn Monday afternoon, relishing a victory for his administration and some in the Legislature. With […]
Posted inEnvironment, Opinion
Energy bill a solid step forward
IF YOU’RE DISGUSTED BY POLITICS in this country, take heart. This is Massachusetts. The state’s clean energy bill, passed in the wee hours of July 31, is an important step […]
Posted inEnvironment, Opinion
The inconvenient truth of energy policy
THE MASSACHUSETTS LEGISLATURE just enacted some of the most ambitious clean energy procurement legislation in the nation. It is a significant step to meet the Commonwealth’s emissions reduction goals and […]
Posted inEnvironment
Energy bill: Winners & losers
The energy legislation approved by the Legislature late Sunday night radically reorganizes the state’s energy market in favor of clean energy, calls for hydroelectric and offshore wind power contracts worth […]
Posted inEnvironment
Lawmakers give late-night OK to energy bill
HOUSE AND SENATE LAWMAKERS approved a compromise energy bill Sunday night that they hope will pave the way for an offshore wind industry and sharply increase imports of electricity from […]
Posted inEnvironment, Opinion
We must preserve nuclear power plants
The following is a letter sent to Gov. Charlie Baker, House Speaker Robert DeLeo, and Senate President Stanley Rosenberg by a group of scientists, environmentalists, and academics. As scientists, environmentalists […]
Posted inEnvironment, Opinion
No subsidies for gas pipeline projects
IT’S CRUNCH TIME when it comes to the Omnibus Energy Bill that is being debated on Beacon Hill. Lawmakers have to decide if they will continue to promote fossil fuel […]
Posted inEnvironment
DPU-Eversource communications probed
THE MASSACHUSETTS DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC UTILITIES is investigating whether one of its employees had improper communication with an attorney for Eversource Energy, which is seeking state approval to assess its […]
Posted inEnvironment, Opinion
Shame on enviro group
OVER THE PAST SEVERAL YEARS, the New Hampshire Legislature has debated and killed repeated efforts to require that transmission line be buried in New Hampshire. Fueled by opposition to the […]