“The PUC made the right call today,” said Chase Whiting, CLF Vermont staff attorney. “Allowing GlobalFoundries to skirt the state’s climate laws would set us back years in reaching our pollution reduction goals. This would be nothing more than an illegal loophole for a wealthy corporation, and officials saw right through it.”
About 350,000 homes and businesses lost power in early February as a winter storm rolled across the country. The storm was mercifully much less deadly than the one last year, but now is the time to prepare for the next one.
“The PUC made the right call today, but the work isn’t over yet,” said CLF attorney Nick Krakoff. “The decision to gut popular energy efficiency programs was irresponsible and radical, and today’s news is a step in the right direction. Nevertheless, it’s still up to the Supreme Court to officially reject the PUC’s rollbacks of energy efficiency programs and put the state on a path to a cleaner, more affordable energy future.”
Winter snow and ice bring out Big Gas’s fearmongers. Why is the region’s electric grid operator among them?
“The PUC’s irresponsible and arbitrary decision on energy efficiency cannot be allowed to stand,” said CLF attorney Nick Krakoff. “Energy efficiency programs are proven ways to reduce energy bills and cut back on polluting fossil fuel use. At a time when high energy bills and cold nights threaten many New Hampshire families, the PUC has dealt a blow to residents’ and businesses’ ability to save on energy costs. Its decision must be overturned.”
We face a winter with real potential for high heating and electricity bills due to the pandemic, severe weather events, and geopolitically caused oil and gas shortages. Massachusetts and other Northeastern states are pushing hard to end the fossil fuel addiction that produces such unstable prices in the short-term – and certain climate damage over the long term.
“This waterways license is yet another example of our state agency making the wrong decision and Eversource Energy not making a good decision,” said Staci Rubin, CLF Vice President of Environmental Justice. “There is a pattern of our governmental decisions granting permits to pollute in communities of color, low-income neighborhoods, and places with limited English-proficient residents.”
A misleading letter peddled by Big Oil echos the anti-clean energy rhetoric of a supposedly credible source: ISO-New England.
A previous version of this blog was published in August, 2017 With the federal government stymied over any meaningful climate legislation, it’s up to the states to take the lead on curbing carbon pollution. Here in New England, such leadership is nothing new. Five New England states have climate laws in the books, mandating cuts… Continue reading Carbon Pricing 101
State officials recommend immediately downsizing and wrapping up a Connecticut plan to expand gas heat.
