FEDERAL REGULATORS on Tuesday released a detailed, 420-page environmental assessment of the proposed Vineyard Wind project that includes predictions about the future of wind energy along the East Coast and suggests the impact on commercial fishing of six possible wind farm configurations would be roughly the same. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management put Vineyard […]
Electricity
Posted inEnvironment
Healey calls for orderly transition away from natural gas
ATTORNEY GENERAL MAURA HEALEY petitioned the Department of Public Utilities on Thursday to investigate how the state’s natural gas utilities should transition to a future where the fuel they are selling no longer fits in with the state’s carbon emission goals. Massachusetts has set a goal of zero carbon emissions by 2050, and Healey argues […]
Posted inOpinion
Eastie needs straight answers from Eversource
EAST BOSTON is a community that is used to having to defend itself against environmental injustices. In the 1960s, Massport’s expansion of Logan Airport led the Maverick Street Mothers to block the road with baby carriages. In the following decades, the neighborhood’s activism led Massport to build parks that are among the best in the […]
Posted inEnvironment
Healey calls for exploring expanded carbon pricing
ATTORNEY GENERAL MAURA HEALEY released a white paper on Monday that calls for the creation of a New England task force to explore expanded use of carbon pricing in electricity generation to achieve region-wide greenhouse gas emission reductions. The white paper’s recommendation is drawing attention because it mirrors what the region’s power grid operator has […]
Posted inEnvironment
Report: Utilities raised concerns on Mayflower
THE UTILITIES THAT SELECTED Mayflower Wind for the state’s second offshore wind procurement raised serious concerns at several stages of the process about the company’s ability to complete the project by 2025, according to a report by an independent firm hired to monitor the contracting process. The report by Peregrine Energy Group is heavily redacted […]
Posted inEnvironment
Grid secures future power commitments at low price
THE OPERATOR of New England’s power grid reported on Tuesday that it secured enough electricity to meet the region’s needs three years from now at the lowest price in 14 years. ISO New England said its auction secured 33,956 megawatts of generating capacity at a clearing price of $2 per kilowatt hour, which was nearly […]
Posted inEnvironment
Vineyard Wind facing lots of hurdles
A FEDERAL REGULATOR speaking at a conference in Boston on Tuesday posted a slide suggesting Vineyard Wind would be operational in 2023, but the company itself is not saying whether its wind farm will be generating electricity by then. Vineyward Wind originally hoped to begin construction in 2019 and have half the 800 megawatt wind […]
Posted inEnvironment
Good news, bad news on offshore wind
THE OFFSHORE WIND INDUSTRY took one step forward and one step backward on Tuesday. The federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management said its review of the Vineyard Wind offshore wind project would be completed by June 12 and a final decision on the project issued by December 18 – 15 months later than originally projected. […]
Posted inEnvironment
Mass. lawmakers, Trump administration spar over Vineyard Wind review
NINE MEMBERS of the Massachusetts congressional delegation asked the General Accountability Office to investigate whether the Trump administration’s extended environmental review of the Vineyard Wind project reflects a bias against renewable energy – an allegation a spokeswoman for the Department of Interior dismissed as “unfounded and uninformed.” In a letter to the General Accountability Office, […]
Posted inEnvironment
For offshore wind, expect more delays
FEDERAL AGENCIES ASSESSING the environmental impact of Vineyard Wind are now expecting the long-delayed process to wrap up sometime in December, according to a top Baker administration official. The Vineyard Wind project was put on hold indefinitely in August 2019 when the federal government decided to supplement its environmental impact review with a study of […]