IN THE SUMMER of 2014, then-candidate Charlie Baker made a pledge to the environmental community. He walked into a large hall at Suffolk University Law School, filled with hundreds of […]
Environment
Posted inTransportation
DOT notes: Big rail projects and small bridges
SOUTH COAST RAIL project officials said phasing in the new line by running it through Middleboro not only gets the service operating years ahead of time, it gives the line […]
Posted inOpinion
Forget Quebec, look offshore for power
THE SELECTION AND THEN REJECTION of the Northern Pass project is proving to be a remarkably important moment of reckoning about Massachusetts’ energy future. For beyond the desirability of Northern […]
Posted inEnvironment
Utilities find no common ground on N. Pass
THE STATE’S UTILITIES blew through a deadline on Friday to come up with a decision or at least a series of next steps for dealing with the fallout from the […]
Posted inOpinion
Beware the Coalition for Sustainable Energy
YET ANOTHER PRO-GAS lobbying group forms, this time just as the Senate Committee on Global Warming and Climate Change prepares to release its omnibus energy bill. Prompting eye-rolls among clean […]
Posted inEnvironment
Mass. business groups push natural gas
ON A DAY WHEN the Baker administration touted 2,000 megawatts of installed solar capacity in Massachusetts, the leaders of eight Bay State business groups appealed to Beacon Hill leaders to […]
Posted inEnvironment
Healey to Baker: Don’t leave N. Pass decision to utilities
ATTORNEY GENERAL MAURA HEALEY on Tuesday urged Baker administration officials to actively participate in deliberations over what to do about the stalled Northern Pass hydro-electricity project, and not leave the […]
Posted inEnvironment
State’s 3 utilities will decide fate of N. Pass
THE DECISION ON WHETHER Massachusetts should stay the course with Northern Pass or move on to another project will be made by the state’s three utilities, one of which is […]
Posted inEnvironment, The Back Story
NH regulators give thumbs down to Northern Pass
NORTHERN PASS, the $1.6 billion project selected by Massachusetts last week to bring a massive amount of hydro-electricity into New England from Quebec, failed to win a key permit from […]
Posted inEnvironment
Lawmakers slam new solar charges
HOUSE AND SENATE ENERGY LEADERS made clear on Tuesday that they aren’t happy with the way Eversource Energy and state regulators have implemented legislation requiring homeowners with solar installations on […]
Posted inEnvironment
Baker goes with Eversource’s Northern Pass
THE BAKER ADMINISTRATION moved forward with the largest clean energy procurement in the state’s history on Thursday by selecting the highly controversial Northern Pass project to deliver hydroelectricity from Quebec […]
Posted inThe Back Story
China says your recyclables don’t measure up
IT’S NOT APPARENT AT THE CURB yet, but recycling programs across Massachusetts are taking a big hit right now because of a new Chinese policy limiting the amount of contaminants […]
Posted inOpinion
What’s happened to CLF?
CONSERVATION LAW FOUNDATION was once a respected organization that worked with utilities and government to help move the region away from oil and coal to cleaner natural gas and renewable […]
Posted inEnvironment
Van Welie takes energy analysis to Capitol Hill
THE OPERATOR OF NEW ENGLAND’S power grid went to Washington on Tuesday to explain why the region is likely to face challenges at times over the next decade keeping the […]
Posted inOpinion
CLF denies financial ties to TDI
BRIAN MURPHY’S January 22 column (“Money is clouding CLF’s judgment”) is an utter fabrication and represents yet another attempt by Northern Pass advocates to spread misinformation that they hope will advantage an unpopular project. […]
Posted inOpinion
Union: Money is clouding CLF’s judgment
THE RECENT PAID ADVERTISING by the Conservation Law Foundation (Sunday Boston Globe, page A12) against the Northern Pass transmission project should not be a surprise to citizens of Massachusetts or […]
Posted inOpinion
A question of access: Shifting the transportation conversation
TRANSPORTATION AND MOBILITY matters to everyone who commutes, travels, or runs errands on a daily basis, and these everyday trips create a sense that we are all experts on transportation. […]
Posted inEnvironment
Energy study draws divergent reactions
THE TWO SIDES fighting over whether the region needs additional natural gas pipeline capacity both took comfort on Thursday from a fuel security study by the operator of the region’s […]
Posted inOpinion
Mass. needs to think bigger on offshore wind
MASSACHUSETTS HAS A ONCE-IN-A-GENERATION opportunity to build a world-class offshore wind industry. The Commonwealth has embarked on a series of procurements to develop at least 1,600 megawatts of offshore wind, enough […]
Posted inEnvironment
ISO study warns of precarious energy future
A NEW STUDY by the operator of the region’s power grid warns that without additional natural gas pipeline capacity New England will face a precarious energy future, where emergency actions […]
Posted inEnvironment
Generators burned 2m barrels of oil over 15 days
FROM DECEMBER 25 UNTIL JANUARY 9, New England power generators burned close to 2 million barrels of oil, which is more than they burned during the rest of 2017 and […]
Posted inEnvironment
More natural gas not answer to climate change
AS MOTHERS AND CAREGIVERS, we are appalled that the executive director of the New England Petroleum Council, Stephen Dodge, characterizes concerned citizens as “environmental extremists” in his Commonwealth magazine opinion […]
Posted inEnvironment
Procurement not following regular playbook
CENTRAL MAINE POWER sent out a press release and started running ads on Thursday questioning why Massachusetts electricity customers should pay an extra $2 billion over 20 years for clean […]
Posted inEnvironment
With temps rising, power grid back to normal
WITH TEMPERATURES RISING, the New England power grid returned to normal on Wednesday as wholesale prices fell and generators returned to producing electricity using natural gas instead of oil. At […]