đź’Ż% Renewable Energy: We Have the Technology. We Need the Policy.

The following testimony was submitted to the TUE Committee on July 22, 2019.

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Chairman Barrett, Chairman Golden, and Members of the Joint Cte on Telecommunications, Utilities, and Energy:

My name is Jonathan Cohn, and I am the chair of the Issues Committee of Progressive Massachusetts, a statewide grassroots advocacy organization devoted to advancing progressive policy in the Commonwealth. As such, we are committed to fighting for an energy system that reduces pollution, promotes clean energy, reduces greenhouse gasses and protects our natural climate and environment.

The 100% Renewable Energy Act (S.1958/H.2836) will help us achieve that, and we urge you to give these bills a favorable report.

As a coastal state, Massachusetts will be hit especially hard by climate change; indeed, we already have. According to the latest report from the IPCC, we have to start acting fast if we want to avoid climate chaos, slashing global greenhouse gas emissions 45 percent below 2010 levels by 2030 and reaching net zero by 2050. The clock is ticking.

Although we have been a leader in energy efficiency, we still get most of our power from dirty fuel, particularly natural gas. Our current Renewable Portfolio Standard only requires utilities to source 14% of electricity from renewable energy, and this was only modestly increased in the last session.

We can do better, and we need to do better.

Renewable energy has been a win-win in Massachusetts, creating new job opportunities and reducing our dependence on fossil fuels. We’re generating more than 240 times as much solar energy in Massachusetts as we did just 10 years ago. Offshore wind as well as new technologies like electric vehicles, energy storage, and air source heat pumps augur well for the future.

But we can’t sit passively by and hope that such a more ecologically sustainable future comes to pass. We need policy to make it happen.

These bills will accelerate the growth of clean energy and set out clear, enforceable requirements to ensure we stay on track to achieve 100 percent renewable energy. Moreover, these bills acknowledge that the energy transition must be a just one, containing core provisions to ensure that displaced workers and the low-income communities and communities of color that have faced the brunt of fossil fuel pollution have a seat at the table.

Mother Nature doesn’t wait. The more we delay the bold, comprehensive climate action that we need, the worse we will fare in the future. It’s time to pass the 100% Renewable Energy Act.

Sincerely,

Jonathan Cohn

Chair, Issues Committee

Progressive Massachusetts

Take Action: Here’s How to Keep it đź’Ż, Massachusetts

In Massachusetts, people shouldn’t have to sue to make progressive change happen, but too often, that’s been the case. Two and a half decades ago, parents sued the state for failing to guarantee a high-quality education for all children, and they’re doing so again today. Similarly, lawsuits have been necessary to force the state to take the bold action on climate change that’s required for a resilient and sustainable future. 

It shouldn’t have to be this way. If our elected officials were bold enough, they would be proactively passing the bills to move us forward, not waiting until they’re forced to.

That’s where you come in.

Keeping It đź’Ż on Education

Four years ago, the Massachusetts Legislature created a commission to figure out how to update the state’s funding formula for local aid to schools, which hasn’t been updated since 1993.

The commission made clear that the state is short-changing schools due to outdated assumptions about the costs of health care, special education, English Language Learner education, and closing income-based achievement gaps.

The Legislature knows exactly what they need to do. They just need to do it.

The PROMISE Act (S.238/H.586) is the only bill before the Legislature that follows through with those recommendations.

But House Leadership has been intransigent. In particular, House Leadership isn’t interested in funding education fully for low-income students, those who need that extra funding the most. And that’s not acceptable.

Any good education funding bill — like the PROMISE Act — would raise the low-income rate up to 100% for the 10th decile. In lay terms, this means spending twice as much as the average per pupil amount per low-income student in a high-poverty district. If we want to close achievement gaps, we need to be spending extra money on the students that need it most in the communities that can’t make up the difference in funding themselves.

Can you call your legislators to urge them to support the PROMISE Act and demand that any education funding bill provides the full resources that low-income students need to succeed?

Keeping It đź’Ż on Climate

As a coastal state, Massachusetts will be hit especially hard by climate change. According to the latest report from the IPCC, we have to start acting fast if we want to avoid climate chaos, slashing global greenhouse gas emissions 45 percent below 2010 levels by 2030 and reaching net zero by 2050.

Although we have been a leader in energy efficiency, we still get most of our fuel from dirty energy, particularly natural gas. That needs to change.

The 100% Renewable Energy Act (S.1958/H.2836) will help make that happen.

This bill would accelerate the growth of clean energy and set out clear, enforceable requirements to ensure that Massachusetts stays on track to achieve 100% renewable energy, while ensuring that the displaced workers, low-income communities, and communities of color that have been most impacted by fossil fuel pollution have a seat at the table.

How can you make that bill into a law?

  • Testify — or simply show up: The hearing for the bill is just around the corner: next Tuesday (July 23) at 1 pm at the State House (Room B2). If you can go, please do to show your support.
  • Make your voice heard: But whether you can or cannot go in person, you can still make your support known to your legislators.

Can you call your legislators to urge them to support the 100% Renewable Energy Act?

Click the links above — and again here — to find out if your legislators are already supportive (and to find their contact info if you don’t already have it). Whether or not they are already supporters, they need to hear from you. Your calls, emails, and visits matter.

CommonWealth: A resolution for Legislature: Finish last year’s work

“A resolution for Legislature: Finish last year’s work” — Jonathan Cohn, CommonWealth 

DATE: 12/29/2018 

IN A FEW short days, the next legislative session in the Massachusetts State House will begin. New legislators will be sworn in. The governor will give his State of the State address. The mad dash to file bills and secure co-sponsorships will start—and end—in the blink of an eye.

But we’re not there yet. Now is the time for reflections on the past and aspirations for the new. And in that spirit, I’d like to propose a New Year’s resolution for the Massachusetts Legislature: finish last year’s business.

The Legislature will have a lot on its table soon, and indeed, new issues arise all the time. But if they want to avoid the chaotic spectacle that the final days of a legislative session too often are, then it’s good to start early.

Read the rest here.

Take Action: The Legislative Session Ends in One Week

The Legislative session here in Massachusetts ends one week from today, and there’s still a lot to get done.

Find your state representative’s contact info here, and then give them a call on these key issues. đź“žđź“žđź“žđź“ž.

Fully Funding Public Schools for All Students

  The world has changed a lot since 1993. But one thing has remained the same: the funding formula that Massachusetts uses for local aid to schools.

A 2015 Commission from the Legislature (“Foundation Budget Review Commission,” or FBRC) found that we are shortchanging local aid to schools by $1 to $2 billion a year due to outdated assumptions about the costs of health care, special education, English Language Learners, and closing income-based achievement gaps.   In May, the MA Senate unanimously passed legislation to update the funding formula for these four categories. However, when the House took up an education bill earlier this month, they left out English Language Learners and low-income students. Massachusetts should not be leaving the most vulnerable students behind.   The bills are now in Conference Committee. Urge your state representative to fight for the inclusion of English Language Learners and low-income students in the final bill.

🏫🏫🏫🏫🏫🏫🏫🏫🏫🏫🏫🏫🏫🏫🏫🏫🏫🏫🏫🏫🏫🏫🏫🏫

Leading on Climate Change

Last month, the MA Senate unanimously passed the most comprehensive climate change legislation in the country. However, as Andrew Gordon from 350 Mass explains here, the House dropped the ball, passing a much weaker bill that does not rise to the level of the climate crisis at hand.   In these last two weeks of the legislative session, a Conference Committee will be working out the final details of a consensus bill. Urge your state representative to lobby the Conference Committee to support the following:

  1. Increasing the Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) to 3% so that we can reach 50% renewable energy by 2030 and be 100% renewable by 2050. 
  2. Fair access to solar (incorporated as Amendment 43 to the Senate energy bill), to require MA to ensure access for low-income communities, renters, and residents of environmental justice communities.

🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎

MA Needs to Stand up for Immigrant Families

Last week, the House and Senate passed a Conference Committee budget that LEFT OUT vital protections for immigrant families.

In May, the MA Senate passed four key immigrant protections (taken from the Safe Communities Act) as part of their FY2019 budget:

  •     Bar police from asking about people’s immigration status unless required by law;
  •     End 287(g) contracts that deputize state and local law enforcement as ICE agents;
  •     Require that immigrants be notified of their due-process rights; and
  •     Ensure that Massachusetts does not contribute to any registry based on religion, ethnicity, citizenship, or other protected categories.

But the House let us down. Urge your state legislators to pass vital Safe Communities Act protections before the session ends next week. (Need your senator’s #? You can find that here.

The End (of 190th Session) is Coming

The Legislative session here in Massachusetts ends one week from tomorrow, and there’s still a lot to get done.

Find your state representative’s contact info here, and then give them a call on these key issues. đź“žđź“žđź“žđź“ž.

Fully Funding Public Schools for All Students

  The world has changed a lot since 1993. But one thing has remained the same: the funding formula that Massachusetts uses for local aid to schools.

A 2015 Commission from the Legislature (“Foundation Budget Review Commission,” or FBRC) found that we are shortchanging local aid to schools by $1 to $2 billion a year due to outdated assumptions about the costs of health care, special education, English Language Learners, and closing income-based achievement gaps.   In May, the MA Senate unanimously passed legislation to update the funding formula for these four categories. However, when the House took up an education bill earlier this month, they left out English Language Learners and low-income students. Massachusetts should not be leaving the most vulnerable students behind.   The bills are now in Conference Committee. Urge your state representative to fight for the inclusion of English Language Learners and low-income students in the final bill.

🏫🏫🏫🏫🏫🏫🏫🏫🏫🏫🏫🏫🏫🏫🏫🏫🏫🏫🏫🏫🏫🏫🏫🏫

Leading on Climate Change

Last month, the MA Senate unanimously passed the most comprehensive climate change legislation in the country. However, as Andrew Gordon from 350 Mass explains here, the House dropped the ball, passing a much weaker bill that does not rise to the level of the climate crisis at hand.   In these last two weeks of the legislative session, a Conference Committee will be working out the final details of a consensus bill. Urge your state representative to lobby the Conference Committee to support the following:

  1. Increasing the Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) to 3% so that we can reach 50% renewable energy by 2030 and be 100% renewable by 2050. 
  2. Fair access to solar (incorporated as Amendment 43 to the Senate energy bill), to require MA to ensure access for low-income communities, renters, and residents of environmental justice communities.

🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎

MA Needs to Stand up for Immigrant Families

Last week, the House and Senate passed a Conference Committee budget that LEFT OUT vital protections for immigrant families.

In May, the MA Senate passed four key immigrant protections (taken from the Safe Communities Act) as part of their FY2019 budget:

  •     Bar police from asking about people’s immigration status unless required by law;
  •     End 287(g) contracts that deputize state and local law enforcement as ICE agents;
  •     Require that immigrants be notified of their due-process rights; and
  •     Ensure that Massachusetts does not contribute to any registry based on religion, ethnicity, citizenship, or other protected categories.

But the House let us down. Urge your state legislators to pass vital Safe Communities Act protections before the session ends next week. (Need your senator’s #? You can find that here.)

We Have a Busy Month, But There’s Always Time to Celebrate

Summer is a season of action and a season of joy. So as the summer approaches, we need to double down on the work of passing our bold policy agenda, as well as celebrate the successes we’ve had.

Raise Up Signature Collection: Ramping Up & Wrapping Up

As a key part of the Raise Up Massachusetts coalition, we’ve been collecting signatures around the state to get a $15 minimum wage and paid family and medical leave on the ballot this November.

Over the past month, we’ve collected more than 5,000. Give yourself a hand!

The last day for signature collection is Saturday, June 16th. Find an event near you here, and if you haven’t already turned your signatures in, email Joe at jdimauro@progressivemass.com to find out how best to do so!

The Summer Warmth Is Nice. A Warmed Planet Isn’t.

This week, the MA Senate is moving to take up S.2545, An Act to Promote a Clean Energy Future. Although this is a bold piece of climate policy, several critical policies are missing: solar access for all, reforms to push back against pipeline expansion, community empowerment, and a comprehensive plan to combat climate change.

Action: Please call your Senator and Chairwoman Karen Spilka, Karen.Spilka@masenate.gov, 617-722-1640 in support of the following amendments:

  • Amendments 41 (Eldridge), 42 (Eldridge),and 43 (Chang-Diaz), which would ensure all communities can access solar energy
  • Amendment 22 (Cyr), which would empower communities and give new tools to promote renewable energy
  • Amendment 44 (Pacheco), which would set binding climate targets for 2030 and 2040
  • Amendments 6 (Jehlen) and 60 (Hinds), which would push back on pipeline expansion

Safe Communities: The Clock Is Ticking

Right now, the Massachusetts legislature is negotiating the state budget for the next year, and key protections for immigrants hang in the balance. Approved by the Senate, these protections (detailed below) now have to make it through the budget Conference Committee.

If you are worried about the Trump administration’s draconian immigration policies, 3 phone calls this week are almost certainly the most impactful thing you can do this week to blunt the effects of these policies in our state:

  • For your own your own Representative (find them here)
    • Ask: “Please urge Speaker DeLeo and the budget Conference Committee to include protections for immigrant families in the final FY2019 state budget.”
  • Committee Chairman Jeffrey Sanchez, 15th Suffolk (617-722-2990)
    • Ask: “Please use your leadership to fight for protections of immigrant families in the FY19 state budget.”
  • Governor Baker (617-725-4005)

Proposed protections would:

  • Bar police from asking about people’s immigration status unless required by law
  • End 287(g) contracts that deputize state and local law enforcement as ICE agents
  • Require that immigrants be notified of their due-process rights
  • Ensure that Massachusetts does not contribute to any registry based on religion, ethnicity, citizenship or other protected categories

Wednesday, 6/20: Summer is a Time for Celebration

Join Progressive Mass members and allies in Newton on Wednesday night, June 20th, for drinks and light appetizers, and to toast our three award winners.

  • Representative Mary Keefe of Worcester: Lead House sponsor of the comprehensive Criminal Justice Reform bill, signed into law this year
  • Jonathan Cohn of Boston: Our resident policy and political expert, leading the Issues Committee and the Elections and Endorsements Committee
  • Rev. Jim Mitulski of Needham: A Progressive Needham leader and tireless advocate for human rights and dignity

Thanks to a group of generous donors, all Summer Soiree contributions up to $7,000 to Progressive Mass will be matched. Your generosity helps us provide staff, office space, organizing software and services, and drive progressive initiatives in multiple coalitions.

Take Action: Call Your Senator in Support of These Key Budget Amendments

The State Senate will be voting on amendments to its FY 2019 budget next week. The budget makes some modest improvements to education and transit funding, but without new revenue sources, it remains in the same paradigm of underinvestment that has dominated for the past decade and a half.

Passing the Fair Share amendment on the ballot this fall will be a first step toward changing that.

But back to the budget…..

If you have only five minutes this week:

Call your state senator, as well as Senate President Harriette Chandler (617-722-1500) and Senate Ways & Means Chairwoman Karen Spilka (617-722-1640), in support of Amendment 1147 (Eldridge): Civil Rights and Safety.

The Legislature has so far punted and stalled when it comes to their responsibility to protect MA’s immigrant families from Trump’s xenophobic mass deportation agenda. The Safe Communities Act, which Progressive Mass and allies around the state have been fighting for over the past year, has remained stuck in committee.

This amendment contains key provisions of the Safe Communities Act:

  1. No Police Inquiries about Immigration Status
  2. Stop Collaborating with ICE
  3. Provide Basic Due Process Protections

Let your senator know that you support taking action now in support of MA’s immigrant families.

And if you have a few more….

The amendment process is an opportunity to further the important causes of…

  • Housing for All
  • Quality Education for All
  • A Clean Environment for All
  • Justice for All

The following amendments will help Massachusetts tackle our affordable housing crisis:

  • Amendment 3 (Creem): Community Preservation Act, which creates a surcharge for documentation at the Registries of Deeds to create a stronger and more stable funding source for the Community Preservation Act
  • Amendment 683 (Eldridge): Alternative Housing Voucher Program, which increases the line item by $2.7m to $7.7m
  • Amendment 686 (Eldridge): Homeless Individuals Assistance, which increases the line item from $46.18 million to $50 million


The following amendments will help Massachusetts deliver on the promise of quality education for all:

  • Amendment 176 (Eldridge): Adult Basic Education, which increases the line item for adult basic education, which is of great importance to new citizens, by $3.5m to $34.5m
  • Amendment 205 & 262 (Jehlen): Fiscal Impact of Charters, which address the important issue of the cost of charter expansion in school districts by ensuring that the state fulfills its obligation to fund charter expansion and to fully analyze charter funding impacts prior to expanding into a community
  • Amendment 260 (Rush): Recess, which would which would mandate at least 20 minutes of recess for elementary school students


The following amendments will help guarantee our constitutional right to a clean environment in Massachusetts:

  • Amendment 936 (Barrett): Minimum Monthly Reliability Contribution, which mitigates the negative impacts of a tax Charlie Baker imposed on MA homeowners who install solar panels on their houses
  • Amendment 968 (Cyr): Environmental Justice, which strengthens the line item for environmental justice coordination by underscoring the importance of public health
  • Amendment 991 (Eldridge): Plastic Bag Reduction, which bans single-use plastic carryout bags

The following amendments will help deliver on the promise of justice for all:

  • Amendment 776 (Barrett): Workforce Training for Ex-Offenders, which increases the line item from $150,000 to $500,000
  • Amendment 992 (Creem): MLAC, which increases the line item from $19 million to $23 million
  • Amendment 997 (Creem): Data Reporting, which adds juvenile and adult reporting requirements, and requires that all the data (the old and the new) be disaggregated by race/ethnicity, gender, age, etc.
  • Amendment 1015 (Brownsberger): Prison Re-entry, which increases the funding for community based residential re-entry
  • Amendment 1042 (Eldridge): Resolve to Stop the Violence Program, which appropriates $300,000 for a restorative justice program in the Department of Corrections with proven benefits for reducing recidivism
  • Amendment 1125 (Friedman): Criminal Justice and Community Support Trust Fund, which would help boost funding for jail diversion programs for people experiencing behavioral health crises
  • Amendment 1147 (Eldridge): Civil Rights and Safety, which upholds the constitutional rights of immigrant communities and makes sure that local law enforcement isn’t deputized to ICE

Can you call or email your Senator today in support of these amendments?

Charlie Baker’s Record On Consumer Protection and Climate Action

By Joel Wool, Progressive Mass Issues Committee

Charlie Baker didn’t run for governor on a platform of consumer protection or climate action. But now that he thinks climate change is real and man-made, he talks a lot about his administration’s work on clean energy and climate change, even as his messaging to his base, and his reelection campaign, evoke themes of “hold the line on taxes” and small government.

There’s nothing wrong with the Governor’s beliefs on climate change evolving and he’s not unique in disliking taxation (as much as we desperately need more revenue). And yes, it’s also really important to have bipartisan action on climate change. As I see it, the problem is pretty simple: beneath a rhetoric of climate action and balanced “combo platter” of energy solutions, the Governor has approved policies that are bad for ratepayers, bad for the environment and bad for democracy.

TLDR: YOU CAN TAKE ACTION to help reform the DPU and advance clean energy. Email your legislators today.

A number of the Governor’s appointees are so bad they might as well be lobbyists for the fossil fuel industry, and overall, the Governor’s energy strategy is bad for consumers, prioritizes investor-owned utilities whose executives contribute to his campaign, and is dishonest, hiding “little known taxes” on energy bills and fees.

What has Charlie Baker’s administration done that is so awful? His administration has approved automatic rate increases, a gratuitously high return on equity for Eversource energy (more on this below), unprecedented fees on solar, cuts to compensation for renters and low-income renewable energy customers, a tax on electric bills to fund fracked gas pipeline expansion (struck down by the MA SJC) and the Governor has failed to maintain the few campaign pledges related to the environment around funding of environmental programs and meaningfully addressing gas leaks.

On rate decisions, you can get a detailed description on what Eversource proposed here.
For the basic money figures, here you go. Eversource got a hike of upwards of $30 million from its customers, even as it complained that this paled in comparison to its request, which was about three times higher. Environmental justice groups and municipal officials vigorously opposed the request at every stage, but DPU ignored their protests.

(What do utilities do with this money? Sure, some of it goes to fund poles and wires, pay staff and invest in new energy infrastructure. Eversource, National Grid and Unitil don’t generate power; they make money from the return on building new infrastructure like distribution lines, and its investors lose out economically when your local energy solutions like solar obviate the need for more poles, wires, substations and other facilities. Increasing return on equity means Massachusetts ratepayers spend more money to enrich utility investors – the utility claims, essentially, that exorbitant returns are a necessary expense.

Even before the hike, Eversource regularly used consumer funds to pay membership fees out to trade groups like Associated Industries of Massachusetts and Edison Electric Institute. These groups subsequently lobby against clean energy policy – even at times, in the case of AIM, supporting policies that make it hard for large customers to go renewable.)

The type of hard-to-understand fees on residential solar approved by Baker’s DPU are FIRST IN THE NATION. This isn’t the kind of policy Massachusetts wants to lead on, setting a precedent that will surely be picked up on in other states. Advocacy group Vote Solar is appealing the decision to the MA Supreme Judicial Court.

Oh, and what’s that about the “pipeline tax”? Governor Baker’s Department of Public Utilities ruled that it was okay to put a fee on electric customer’s bills to expand multi-billion dollar fracked gas infrastructure across New England. The MA Supreme Judicial Court struck that idea down as it violates a 1990’s law that restructured the electricity market, in part to encourage competition, advance efficiency and shield consumers from risk that should be borne by investors.

In summary, the out-of-control Department of Public Utilities has consistently acted to (1) hike rates (2) guarantee utility investor profits (3) attack clean energy and (4) attempt to prop up fossil fuels – sometimes violating the law to do so and getting reprimanded through the court process.

YOU CAN TAKE ACTION to help reform the DPU and advance clean energy. Email your legislators today.

Outside of DPU, and amidst anti-pipeline protests, Governor Baker has said doesn’t “take a backseat to anybody” on renewable energy. He may honestly believe that, but for the purposes of explication allow me to list a few United States Governors and numerous Massachusetts Republicans who are well ahead of Governor Baker on clean energy and climate change.

Governors:

Governor David Ige – Hawaii – Supports a transition to 100% Renewable Energy, which Hawaii has in statute. (Baker was recently featured in a discussion alongside Gov. Ige)

Governor Jerry Brown – Aggressively resisting Trump agenda, pushing regional climate cooperation on the west coast. CA has a 50% renewable energy by 2030 mandate in law.

There are plenty of others.

(Massachusetts’ renewable energy commitment will get us to 100% renewables by 2105, even though moving faster on renewables would cost little and create thousands of jobs)

Massachusetts Republicans to whom Charlie Baker takes a backseat:

Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr – A longtime supporter of climate action, energy planning, repair of gas leaks

House Minority Leader Brad Jones – A longtime advocate for environmental conversation, he’s worked with Democrats on many issues. Recently, he co-authored a letter signed by 120+ legislators urging reforms to the Department of Public Utilities and higher standards on Gas Infrastructure.

Senator Ryan Fattman of Sutton – A big fan of the outdoors, rumor has it he’s a member of the Appalachian Mountain Club!

Mayor Bob Hedlund and Senator Patrick O’Connor of Weymouth – Strong opponents of a gas compressor station in Weymouth.

Carbon Pricing: Keeping MA a Leader on Climate Action

The following was testimony submitted to the Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities, and Energy on behalf of Progressive Massachusetts on June 20, 2017.

Chairman Barrett, Chairman Golden, and members of the Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities, and Energy, I, Jonathan Cohn, Co-Chair of the Issues Committee of Progressive Massachusetts, am pleased to offer this testimony on behalf of Progressive Massachusetts. Progressive Massachusetts is a multi-issue, grassroots, member-based advocacy organization committed to an agenda of shared prosperity, racial and social justice, good governance and strong democracy, and sustainable infrastructure and environmental protection.  

Progressive Massachusetts would like to go on the record IN SUPPORT of bills H.1726 and S.1821.

As a coastal state, Massachusetts is especially vulnerable to climate change. To put it bluntly, we cannot achieve shared prosperity under water.Nine years ago, the Global Warming Solutions Act was signed into law, committing the state to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25% below the 1990 baseline in 2020 and by at least 80% in 2050. However, as advocates have often pointed out, and the Supreme Judicial Court ruled last year, Massachusetts is not on track to meet its own goals.

After President Trump moved to pull the United States out of the Paris Agreement, elected officials from both parties in Massachusetts condemned this misguided move and said that Massachusetts would continue to push forward with climate mitigation. But we need more than just rhetoric. We need concrete policies that enable us to realize and build upon our current commitments.

The carbon pricing bills under consideration—H. 1726 and S. 1821—are such policies. A 2014 study prepared for the Department of  Energy Resources found putting a price on carbon in a scheme akin to that of these bills “would reduce state GHG emissions to a larger degree than most other Massachusetts programs that currently operate for this purpose.” Indeed, it could reduce economy-wide emissions by 5-10%, with much of this reduction coming from the transportation sector, which is the largest source of emissions in Massachusetts.

The environmental benefits of such a pricing scheme are not limited to climate mitigation. The reduction in air pollution resulting from the price incentive could save over 300 lives over the next twenty years.

We are pleased that both H.1726 and S.1821 take important steps to counteract any potential regressive economic effects of a carbon pricing scheme, making sure that low-income residents are not bearing the burden of climate mitigation. And we specifically commend H.1726 for setting aside 20% of collected funds for a new Green Infrastructure Fund that would facilitate the decarbonization of the transportation sector and increase investments in renewable energy, energy efficiency, and climate resilience. Changing price incentives is just the first step in the critical task of mitigating climate change.

The situation at the federal level for climate policy ambitious enough to meet the challenges before us is grim. It has thus become increasingly important for states like Massachusetts to redouble their commitments. We must do so to avoid regress, and we must do so to provide models for national policies as our state so often has.

College Students Work to Put a Price on Carbon, All of Us March

By Heather Busk, Progressive Watertown

Off the coast of New England, warming waters may have led to the collapse of the cod fishery that gave Cape Cod its name. In our daily lives, however, the effects of climate change have been harder to notice. The average temperature and precipitation patterns have changed even here in Massachusetts, but such shifts are masked by day to day and yearly variations. To change that perception, and to build support for carbon pricing, several student organizations from local colleges and universities hosted a viewing of the episode “Priceless” of National Geographic’s “Years of Living Dangerously” and an expert panel discussion afterwards. 

Tufts Climate Action, Emerson Eco-Reps, Fossil Free MIT, DivestNU and the Boston University Environmental Student Organization organized the event as part of the #PutAPriceOnIt campaign. 

The episode looked at places where the effects of climate change have been far more dramatic than what we’ve seen in Massachusetts, so far.

In the mountains of California, the pika, this adorable little creature:

Pika

may go extinct. They overheat easily, and as warming has made the lower reaches increasingly uninhabitable, they’ve fled to higher and higher elevations. But the mountains are only so tall, and if the temperature continues to rise, they will soon have nowhere left to go and will die out. They’ve already lost more than a third of their habitat in Nevada and Oregon. Other animals living in these sky islands are similarly threatened.

Kenya’s Ambroseli National Park endured a terrible drought from 2006 to 2009, one of the worst in generations. Hundreds of elephants starved to death, including 200 babies and at least 60 of the matriarchs. The population declined by more than 20%. In the words of one of the park staff, “There was dust and nothing else.”

The drought also triggered an increase in poaching. Some farmers killed elephants to protect their crops. The hungry elephants, in their desperate search for food, encroached on nearby farms, eating and trampling on produce. Other farmers turned to the ivory trade to replace their drought-stricken livelihoods.

The Masai people are traditionally dependent on cows, but as the climate has dried, many have shifted from a nomadic lifestyle to farming. They have had little choice: during the drought, some lost 90% of their livestock. This has led to increasing conflict between farmers and wildlife, as farmers’ fences block the migration routes of many large mammals. African elephants, hippos, and many other species are at risk of extinction if nothing is done to prevent it.

Such droughts will become increasingly common as the climate changes. Rainfall in Ambroseli has declined by 29% over the past century. California, too, has just begun recovering from a 5-year long drought that left lakes and reservoirs at their lowest levels in decades. This drought followed on the heels of another drought from 2007 to 2009. Over the past decade, California has had more dry years than normal years. That is not sustainable for a state with a large population (which also happens to grow most of the fruits and vegetables produced in the US).

The damage caused by climate change is no longer hypothetical, it is ongoing. Urgent action has been needed for decades now. But until recently, the lack of something visible to point to, something that connected to our daily lives, made it easy to push action to the future, to discount the risks and argue that any steps to fight it were just too expensive. That time is over.

We must establish carbon pricing here in Massachusetts. Carbon pricing helps people reduce their carbon emissions by adding a tax on the consumption of fossil fuels, in proportion to how much carbon is emitted from burning them. This discourages the use of carbon-heavy fuels such as coal and encourages cleaner sources such as biofuels, solar, and wind. The proposed legislation offsets the added cost by giving a rebate back to consumers and businesses.

A similar law has been quite successful in Vancouver-carbon emissions dropped by 15%, while the economy continued to thrive. Because of its success, Canada is considering carbon pricing for the entire country. Even fossil fuel companies have come out in favor of carbon taxes, perhaps, as one of the panelists speculated, because a tax would be simpler for them to implement than other potential regulations to address climate change. When even fossil fuel companies are on board, and when it has already been successfully implemented in other places, there really is no good reason not to put a price on carbon here in Massachusetts.

To make this happen, we must make it clear to our elected officials that we support strong steps to combat climate change. There are three chances to do this coming up very soon: the March for Science is happening on April 22, and the People’s Climate March happens a week later, on April 29. Both marches will take place in Washington D.C. and many other locations around the country, including Boston. After you’re done marching, you can take the message directly to your legislators during Progressive Mass’s Lobby Day, on May 3.

Now is the time to put a price on carbon. Now is the time to march. After all, as Obama once noted, “We are the first generation to feel the impact of climate change, and the last generation that can do something about it.”