Legislators Say Mass Save is ‘Dragging Feet’ on Clean Energy Goals
RTO Insider
Sen. Michael Barrett says that “from a legislative view, there is no one focused on responsibility” for the role Mass Save plays in electrification.
State Institutions and state spaces and the lives they touch
Bill Aims To Stomp Out Biomass Power Subsidies
WBUR
“Under the environmental justice policy in the new biomass regulations, which are set to take effect this week, future biomass facilities could be located and be eligible for incentives in just 10 to 11 percent of the state — a stretch of communities west of the Connecticut River and along the Connecticut border, a strip of coastline that runs through Cohasset, Scituate and Marshfield, and small shreds of various other towns.
“Sen. Mike Barrett, the co-chair of the TUE Committee, said the bills Livingstone and the Springfield lawmakers supported seemed like it ‘simply makes formal what the Baker people already conceded informally, which is that there is not to be any additional biomass built in Massachusetts.’
“’If we’re going to create a map by administration regulation that bars biomass for 89 percent of the state, I think this is a de facto admission that biomass should no longer be part of a clean energy portfolio for Massachusetts,’ Barrett said. He added, ‘All we’re being asked to do is to formalize something that has already become an informal rule. And in so formalizing this new policy against biomass, we would be protecting a handful of remaining towns that don’t qualify for environmental justice protection.’”
Hearing shows desire to spend ARPA $$$ on infrastructure
wwlp.com
Sen. Michael Barrett questioned why the administration had chosen not to fund certain climate projects, such as a modernization of the electric grid that will be necessary as the state transitions to more electric heating of homes and businesses.
“I don’t sense a consistent theme of trying to get a two for one hit, or trying to make sure mitigation, averting future climate problems, is always part of an adaptation policy,” Barrett said.
These lawmakers wrote the climate bill. They’re worried the state won’t achieve it
Boston Globe
“You can’t have utilities in charge of an all-out push to electrify,” said Senator Mike Barrett, a Lexington Democrat who was the lead author of the state’s 2050 climate law. “Mass Save is probably not going to be the quarterback to bring us to the emissions reductions Super Bowl as it’s currently constituted.”
Swimming at Walden Pond
Just sent off to Dept. of Conservation and Recreation calling for the ban on open swimming at Walden Pond to be rescinded. From Senator Jason Lewis, me, and a bipartisan group of 48 additional legislators.
Learning how to swim should be a critical life skill available to everyone. Rather than pursuing swimming bans or draconian fines, we urge DCR and the Baker Administration to immediately expand efforts statewide that will improve water safety and help prevent future tragic drownings.
Biomass power rules leave 35 towns in industry ‘crosshairs’
Berkshire Eagle
Sen. Michael Barrett, who co-chairs the committee, told Woodcock that it sounded to him like DOER was taking a position that “is somewhat supportive of current biomass, but distinctly unenthusiastic and bearish about additional biomass.”
“Why don’t we formalize what seems to be the informal and unofficial thrust of these proposed new regulations? Why leave 35 out of 351 municipalities in the crosshairs?” Barrett asked, referring to a request O’Connor included in his letter that Woodcock support legislation that would make all new in-state biomass ineligible for state incentives.
State proposal could deter biomass plants from almost all Mass. communities
Boston Business Journal
Lawmakers called on the Baker administration to restrict woody plants altogether, saying those 35 towns could be “targeted” for incentivized biomass production.
Help on the horizon for electricity consumers
Lowell Sun
Electric customers in Massachusetts who switched to a competitive electric supplier paid $426 million more than they would have had they stayed with their utility company from July 2015 to June 2020, Attorney General Maura Healey’s office said in a recent report.
Sen. Mike Barrett, the committee co-chair, said that the findings presented by the attorney general and executive branch “really raise serious questions for those who would argue that we continue with current practice.”
“As time has gone on, both sides have had an opportunity to be heard and it’s probably time — just expressing a personal opinion — that we act on this question,” Barrett said.