As the new home of MASSPIRG's environmental work, Environment Massachusetts can be contacted regarding this news release.
First,
we want to thank Gov. Romney for taking separate action to stand up for
renewable energy in Massachusetts. Yesterday, by proposing amendments
to House 5090 (the biomass/LNG bill), he acted to protect the
environment and ratepayers in the Commonwealth. This is the second time
this session that Gov. Romney has used his amending and veto authority
to protect the state’s Renewable Portfolio Standard. (The first
instance was his veto of House 5104, the hydro power provisions of the
economic stimulus bill.) We appreciate his careful consideration and
treatment of this issue. We hope the legislature will accept his
amendments. They are an effective compromise that will continue the
Commonwealth’s commitment to supporting the development of new, clean
renewable energy—exactly what we need to solve our energy crisis.
We
continue to support all efforts to protect Commonwealth residents from
the dangers of LNG facilities sited too close to homes and businesses,
and to oppose siting LNG or other energy facilities in our state and
national parks.
***
Second, regarding Gov. Romney’s energy policy announcement today, we have to put this announcement in context.
This
makes the right call by committing to put efficiency first, and that’s
a very positive step. It is clear that a lot of thought has gone into
this plan, and, for the sake of comparison, this plan is light-years
better than what Congress and the Bush administration have put together
in recent years.
On
the other hand, no energy plan for Massachusetts is complete without
support for Cape Wind and joining RGGI, the Regional Greenhouse Gas
Initiative. We continue to be disappointed by Gov. Romney’s rejection
of those two promising opportunities, and we fully expect that
Massachusetts will soon join RGGI and cut global warming pollution from
polluting power plants.
There are some very good ideas in this plan, and we hope and expect that they’ll be acted on without delay.
