New Bill Will Prepare Massachusetts Communities for Climate Change
Two bills introduced in the Massachusetts legislature this session could lead the way for the rest of New England to adapt to our new climate reality.
Two bills introduced in the Massachusetts legislature this session could lead the way for the rest of New England to adapt to our new climate reality.
“It’s inexcusable that the companies we trust to transport our children to school are polluting the very air they breathe,” said Alyssa Rayman-Read, Vice President and Director of CLF Massachusetts. “There are laws on the books to prevent this type of air pollution and Transdev is blatantly ignoring them. They need to take responsibility and stop spewing toxic pollution into our neighborhoods.”
“From agriculture and fisheries to recreation and tourism, our regional economy, culture, and way of life are on a knife’s edge,” said Bradley Campbell. “Our ability to stem the loss of other species will tell us whether we have the capacity to save our own.”
“This is a landmark, this is a symbol of pollution that has been destructive in this community for over 50 years,” said Amy Moses, Rhode Island director and vice president of the Conservation Law Foundation, which filed suit along with other environmental groups against Brayton Point Power Station in 2013.
Sean Mahoney, executive vice president of the Conservation Law Foundation, joins WPRI live on Eyewitness News This Morning to discuss the Brayton Point coal plant demolition.
“The last symbol of dirty coal in Massachusetts has come tumbling down, and a coal-free New England is within our reach,” said Sean Mahoney, Executive Vice President at CLF. “Brayton Point spewed toxic pollution into nearby communities for decades, sickening residents and devastating our environment. Now residents can literally breathe easier as clean, renewable energy will rise out of the rubble of this dirty, polluting dinosaur.”
Brayton Point Station spewed toxic emissions for nearly 60 years. Today, the massive cooling towers finally came down, bringing us one step closer to the end of coal in New England.
The 2050 Roadmap Act is a critical update to the state’s landmark Global Warming Solutions Act (GWSA). It will ensure Massachusetts’s nation-leading climate efforts remain tied to science while establishing a new framework for fairly and efficiently achieving our climate goals by 2050.
“You don’t often get to see concrete examples of the changes that we’ve been working on for decades,” Mahoney said. “You’re blowing up the towers that made it barely acceptable for that facility to burn coal.”
Plastics are everywhere, and they aren’t all recyclable. Until there’s a new system that creates a structure for using less plastic from the beginning, here’s a handy guide to what can and can’t go in the bin.