FOR THE SECOND TIME in less than two years, Attorney General Maura Healey on Friday rejected bylaws approved by the town of Brookline placing restrictions or prohibitions on buildings incorporating […]
Environment
Posted inEnvironment, State House News Service
Meeting Mass. emission targets about to get bit tougher
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE STATE ENERGY and environmental officials responsible for making sure Massachusetts meets its greenhouse gas emissions reductions commitments already had their work cut out for them […]
Posted inEnvironment
Two soundings from Somerset
IT WAS FITTING that Rep. Patricia Haddad would take a bow at a gathering on Thursday in Somerset celebrating the purchase of 47 acres at Brayton Point by an Italian […]
Posted inEnvironment
Natural gas infrastructure a climate change sticking point
AS MASSACHUSETTS SEEKS to transition away from fossil fuels and achieve net zero emissions by 2050, what to do with the state’s existing natural gas infrastructure is becoming a major […]
Posted inEnvironment
State said to be on track on 2020 climate goal
THE BAKER ADMINISTRATION released a first-of-its-kind projection on Tuesday indicating the state is on track for now in meeting its climate change goals, but the governor’s top energy aide said […]
Posted inEnvironment
Baker administration unveils building code slide deck
BAKER ADMINISTRATION officials unveiled a slide deck on Tuesday that outlines in broad strokes how they intend to use updates to two existing state building codes and the development of […]
Posted inEnvironment
Baker seeking major changes in building code
THE BAKER ADMINISTRATION is preparing to unveil proposed revisions to the state building code that would ratchet up energy conservation across the state and allow individual communities to opt-in to […]
Posted inOpinion
Grid operator should stop crying wolf
NEW ENGLAND’S fossil fuel interests and electric grid operator are at it again. Every winter, they issue dire warnings that our region’s power grid won’t be able to handle the […]
Posted inEnvironment
Fault lines in New England’s climate plan
ELECTRICITY IN MANY WAYS is the key to the region’s climate change plans – bulk up and decarbonize the New England power grid and then use the green electricity to […]
Posted inOpinion
Natural gas bottleneck hurting New England
FOR ALMOST THREE decades, natural gas use has continued to grow in New England, while the number of pipelines feeding the region has remained stagnant. Demand has increased while supply […]
Posted inEnvironment
Electricity costs skyrocket along with oil usage
THE NEW ENGLAND power grid kept the lights on across the region in January, but at a very high cost financially and in terms of greenhouse gas emissions. The cost […]
Posted inEnvironment
Hunters, conservationists at odds on Sunday bow hunting
OVER THE YEARS, Massachusetts has gradually repealed its “blue laws” — historically religious laws aimed at preserving Sunday as a day of rest. In 1983, retail stores were allowed to […]
Posted inEnvironment
Close calls as region’s power grid walks a tightrope
This story has been updated. THE OVERSEER of the New England power grid warned on Monday that the region is walking a tightrope this winter, flirting with emergency situations that […]
Posted inEnvironment
Lawsuit challenges Vineyard Wind approval
A LAWSUIT CHALLENGING the federal approval of the nation’s first industrial-scale offshore wind farm off the coast of Massachusetts raises questions about the haste with which the project was approved […]
Posted inOpinion
Use our forests to fight climate change
TWO BILLS NOW before the Legislature — H.912, An Act Relative to Forest Protection and H.1002, An Act Relative to Increased Protection of Wildlife Management Areas — would help to […]
Posted inBook Review
The Quabbin lesson of doing big things (mostly) together
BEFORE THE FLOOD Destruction, Community, and Survival in the Drowned Towns of the Quabbin By Elisabeth C. Rosenberg 232 pages, Pegasus Books TODAY IT MIGHT be hard to imagine something […]
Posted inOpinion
Boston Green New Deal should include downsized Logan Airport
HIGH ON BOSTON Mayor Michelle Wu’s agenda is a municipal-level Green New Deal. Indeed, the new mayor recently declared that she is “looking to make Boston the greenest city.” The Boston Green New […]
Posted inOpinion
Boston’s health care industry is energy intensive
THE CLIMATE CRISIS is already wreaking havoc on our planet’s ecosystems, weather patterns, and economies. Some of its most profound effects, however, will be on human health. Fossil fuel pollution from heavy industry, large buildings, power plants, and transportation represents a two-front public health threat. It […]
Posted inOpinion
A lot can change when it comes to rivers
SIXTEEN YEARS BEFORE the passage of the revised Clean Water Act, 5-year-old Mark threw a rock into the Nashua River in Leominster, one of the 10 most polluted waterways in […]
Posted inEnvironment, State House News Service
FERC declines to revoke Weymouth compressor certificate
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE A CONTROVERSIAL NATURAL GAS facility in Weymouth can continue to operate after federal regulators on Thursday declined to revoke the project’s authorization, dealing another blow to […]
Posted inEnvironment
Oil powering a big chunk of power grid
NEW ENGLAND POWER plants are burning a lot more oil to generate electricity, apparently because the cost of natural gas is so high. In January last year, oil accounted for […]
Posted inEnvironment, State House News Service
Markey says FERC rethinking Weymouth Compressor
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE FEDERAL ENERGY regulators will reconsider their approval for the controversial natural gas compressor station in Weymouth less than a year and a half after they gave […]
Posted inOpinion
John Muir’s view of wilderness is just plain wrong
THE IDEA that to “preserve” or “protect” a piece of land means it must be devoid of human influence (other than recreation) is a legacy of the white supremacy on […]
Posted inUncategorized
Sweeping offshore wind bill headed toward House
THE LEGISLATURE’S energy committee approved a bill Wednesday evening that would give the state’s Clean Energy Center a major role in the development of the offshore wind industry and tap […]
