Our studies suggest that the key is carefully structured negotiations that lead to enforceable agreement. At the project level, this is accomplished through enforceable community benefit agreements, or CBAs.
Energy
Posted inEnergy
Commission pushes speedier approval process for clean energy infrastructure
The tone of the report is balanced, but the recommendations would concentrate more power in the hands of the state’s Energy Facilities Siting Board.
Posted inEnergy
National Grid says Biden-backed transmission line ‘not viable’
The Twin States Clean Energy Link was considered a novel transmission line because it sought to transmit electricity in both directions – energy going from New England to Quebec when the region had a surplus and electricity flowing to New England when Quebec had a surplus.
Posted inOpinion
High electricity rates undermine heat pump expansion
What will it take to change course? Building more transmission from affordable Canadian hydropower in Quebec? Streamlining permitting for offshore wind? Permit reform for transmission? I’m all for any of those.
Posted inEnergy
The case for saving Everett LNG terminal
Now that the Mystic power plant is shutting down, the fear of electricity shortages dissipating, the Everett terminal is being pitched as a hedge against a possible shortage of natural gas for home heating and cooking.
Posted inOpinion
Geothermal pilot in Framingham could be key decarbonization answer
It’s a first-in-the-nation utility scale networked geothermal system, which works by harnessing the earth’s ambient temperature and Eversource is betting similar systems can be built across Massachusetts.
Posted inEnergy
Somerset files criminal complaint against town’s largest land owner
The town of Somerset is pursuing a criminal complaint – and more than $3 million in fines – in connection with a zoning dispute involving the company that owns Brayton […]
Posted inOpinion
Meeting climate goals requires new policy, funding
There are statutory, policy, and funding changes we must adopt if we are to meet our climate goals.
Posted inGovernment
Richie Neal wants to make a deal
The ethos of compromise has been Neal’s guiding light over four decades in politics. In today’s hyper partisan climate, it’s often reviled as a sign of weakness.
Posted inOpinion
Mass. Decarbonization Roadmap radically underestimates costs
We should not flinch from the possibility that an honest reassessment of the required resources may leave us no choice but to reassess our goals for retrofit of existing buildings.
Posted inOpinion
Electrifying everything is the right way to go
Our efforts must focus on building a modern electric grid that embraces the wide array of new, clean, reliable, and cost-effective technologies while rapidly downsizing fossil fuel infrastructure.
Posted inEnvironment
Mass. barrels toward critical period of ‘rapid decarbonization’
Massachusetts has a staggering to-do list in order to meet its 2050 commitment to hit net zero greenhouse emission.
Posted inEnergy
DPU starts plotting path to ‘beyond gas future’
After three years of studies and analysis, the DPU issued an order that requires gas utilities to begin to rein in their businesses and moved toward a “beyond gas future.”
Posted inOpinion
At Eversource, we’re shifting our approach to EJ communities
Eversource is quite literally developing a roadmap for successfully achieving a clean energy future in Massachusetts, and as we look at this huge undertaking holistically, we recognize that every voice deserves to be heard and lived experience recognized so that we can maximize the benefits of clean energy for all customers and prioritize the EJCs that have been historically left behind.
Posted inEnergy
Somerset approves $20m tax break for offshore wind supplier
Town meeting in Somerset voted Monday night to approve a $20 million property tax break for the Prysmian Group, which is planning to build a $250 million to $300 million subsea cable manufacturing facility at Brayton Point to serve the offshore wind industry.
Posted inEnergy
Eversource says it has buyer for offshore wind business
Eversource Energy says it has a buyer for its stake in three offshore wind projects. The company is eager to focus on its regulated businesses in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Hampshire.
Posted inOpinion
A checklist for the region’s power grid operator
ISO New England, the region’s power grid operator, needs to be more accessible, more accountable, and buy-in to the climate fight.
Posted inOpinion
RGGI should fight for environmental justice
STATES ACROSS the northeast and mid-Atlantic are more than a decade into an ambitious regional collaboration to clean the air, fight climate change, and create thousands of clean energy jobs […]
Posted inEnvironment
Quebec-New England transmission line gets Biden backing
THE BIDEN ADMINISTATION on Monday pledged financial support for a two-way transmission line capable of carrying hydroelectricity from Quebec into New England and eventually offshore wind and solar power from […]
Posted inOpinion
My energy efficiency efforts were frustrated by Mass Save
THERE’S A BROAD consensus in Massachusetts, affirmed by state law and policy, to accelerate the adoption of clean energy technologies as an important way to advance our climate and energy […]
Posted inOpinion
DPU, energy siting board need to change their ways
SOMETHING IS MISSING from our roadmap to net-zero emissions: the input of the people living in communities that will be most impacted by our future energy decisions. Why are their […]
Posted inOpinion
Power grid most important piece of climate puzzle
IN FIVE OR SO YEARS, many of you will drive a car that you plug in at night rather than fill at the pump. You’ll keep your homes warm with […]
Posted inEnergy, Environment
Healey announces 3-state offshore wind procurement
NERVOUS ABOUT rising prices for offshore wind power, the states of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut are banding together to solicit larger wind farm projects that hopefully will come with […]
Posted inEnvironment
Advocates press Healey to scrap Hanscom expansion
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE IN A NEW SURGE of opposition, advocates are calling directly on Gov. Maura Healey to stop the expansion of the publicly owned airfield in Bedford that […]