For additional information, please contact:
Frank Gorke
Environment Massachusetts
617.620.9869 (cell)
617.747.4322 (ass’t)
This is a gold star energy
package.
We appreciate the leadership of Speaker DiMasi, Governor
Patrick, Senate President Murray, and Committee Chairs Brian Dempsey and
Michael Morrissey in pulling this bill together.
This amounts to a major update to our state’s energy policy,
and it charts a course to a new, cleaner energy future. Everyone knows we have
huge energy challenges, including pollution that changes the climate and
dependence on dirty and dangerous energy sources. In addition we're at the end
of the pipeline here in the northeast, so we have little control over the cost
of conventional energy supplies. These are some of the reasons why the steps in
this bill are so important.
This bill puts energy efficiency at the heart of our
energy policy. It takes several steps that ought to help break the logjam and
spur the development of new clean renewable power sources like wind and
clean biomass. It opens the door to more local generation of power, so
that homeowners and business owners can start to install their own clean,
efficient power supplies. It takes steps to make sure we build smarter
buildings that use less energy and cut global warming pollution.
We are pleased to support these policies, and look forward
to working with the legislature and the administration as this bill moves
through the process. Passing legislation like this will put Massachusetts back into the vanguard of
states that are driving the nation toward a cleaner energy future, and it will
position the state as a hub of the 21st century clean energy economy.
It’s also important to note that Massachusetts’ own Ed Markey is House
Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s point person on energy issues, and the House and Senate
are working on a federal energy bill as we speak. With this bill, we would send
a clear message to Congress that the states are doing what they can to boost
energy independence and cut pollution, and that it is time for the federal
government to do the same. Passing this bill would give Congressman Markey and
the rest of the Massachusetts
delegation firm ground to stand on in calling for Congress to pass an energy
bill that includes a national renewable energy standard and an increase to fuel
economy standards.
###
To
watch the press conference click on this link and scroll down to “Green
Communities Act Of 2007 Press Conference Thu, 11/08/2007”.
