In response to residents of the South Shore complaining about the proposed Enbridge gas compressor, in 2018 Gov. Baker threw them a bone: A Health Impact Assessment, to be finished before the permitting process in January 2019. In a weird … [Read more...]
House voting on climate amendments RIGHT NOW
The Massachusetts House of Representatives is right now taking up amendments on its climate bill. They passed the basic bill already, and it has not elicited praise from environment advocates. Here’s Ben Hellerstein, quoted by State House … [Read more...]
The Weymouth gas compressor lacks a permit. Why is it still being built?
Six weeks ago, a federal court vacated the permit for the Enbridge gas compressor being built in Weymouth, on the grounds that the beleaguered and under-funded and un-minded Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection didn't follow … [Read more...]
Nathan Phillips hunger strike, day 7 — please make the calls
Why does a man have to starve himself, just to get the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to protect the public in the most basic way? When you really think about it ... you wonder how it's ever come to this. As I mentioned nearly a week ago, … [Read more...]
Health experts blast gas in NEJM
I saw this "Perspective" piece in the New England Journal of Medicine ... and I thought I recognized one of the authors' names. Dr. Philip Landrigan is the Director of the Global Health program at Harvard's School of Public Health; but he's … [Read more...]
Weymouth gas compressor: This could blow up
With all permits in hand, construction on Enbridge's Weymouth gas compressor is set to begin tomorrow. This is the result of a rigged, heads-we-win-tails-you-lose process that has ignored near-unanimous community opposition, and the … [Read more...]
They Are Not The Same: Markey battled; Kennedy dithered on gas pipelines
We will hear this often throughout this primary: "Markey and Kennedy don't differ much on the issues." We'll even hear that Joe endorsed the Green New Deal -- without giving credit to its author, one Ed Markey. But this kind of talk … [Read more...]
Cough-cough-Kafka: The #WeymouthCompressor runs out of gas?
The Weymouth Compressor case added a few new wild plot twists in the last fortnight. On substantive, process, and political grounds, this is a growing embarrassment for MassDEP — and for Baker himself. This case is a big deal, for a … [Read more...]
Ann Berwick states the obvious: “Natural gas is not a clean fuel”
Just to amplify another experienced, reality-based voice calling out the Boston Globe for its series (!) of pro-pipeline editorials. This time it's former Department of Public Utilities chair Ann Berwick -- but stop me if you've heard this … [Read more...]
A Demand for Progress on Climate
Like gun violence, chronic poverty and unequal health care coverage, the problem of unchecked greenhouse gas pollution won’t solve itself. As important as local and state efforts to reduce the emissions imperiling our planet are, a … [Read more...]