Gov. Charlie Baker isn’t crying over the demise of the $3 billion Kinder Morgan natural gas pipeline that was going to bring cheap natural gas from Pennsylvania into Massachusetts via New Hampshire.
Kinder Morgan officials announced on Wednesday that they were pulling the plug on the project because of strong political and grassroots opposition as well as a dearth of utility customers for the gas. The company was also having problems finding financially stable suppliers in Pennsylvania, which is reeling from a downturn in natural gas prices that is decimating the industry nationwide.
Pipeline decisions are largely the purview of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, but Baker for years has been quietly campaigning against the Kinder Morgan project. During his run for governor, he said he preferred expanding pipeline capacity using existing rights of way rather than building new routes. More recently, he adopted a new argument. He told opponents of the Kinder Morgan pipeline that the best way to stop it was to show federal regulators that it wasn’t needed by supporting his bill to import hydroelectricity from Canada. “Most people who are concerned about Kinder Morgan, they should really think hard about hydro,” he said in February.
But Baker’s opposition to Kinder Morgan’s pipeline shouldn’t be construed as opposition to all new natural gas pipelines. Baker sees imports of cheap natural gas as a way to hold energy prices steady in the region and possibly reduce them slightly. Baker reportedly favors expansion of the existing Algonquin pipeline, a project called Access Northeast that runs on existing right of way and would be built by Spectra Energy along with the utilities Eversource Energy and National Grid.
Any new pipeline project is likely to face stiff opposition from environmental groups, grassroots activists, and possibly Attorney General Maura Healey. A study released by Healey in November found no need for new natural gas pipelines. Environmental advocates say asking electric ratepayers to subsidize natural gas pipeline capacity is nonsensical. In the wake of Kinder Morgan’s decision, one environmental activist said the battle isn’t over: “Spectra Energy, you’re next,” she said.
So where does all this leave Baker’s combo energy platter? Baker wants the Access Northeast natural gas project, hydroelectricity imports from Canada, and he increasingly talks as if he would support offshore wind. The House is likely to order the same platter in energy legislation expected to be unveiled in a couple weeks, but some House members would prefer to drop natural gas and hydro from the platter and feast just on offshore wind.
That approach seems unlikely. Former governor William Weld, who splits his time between the law firm of Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky and Popeo and the firm’s lobbying arm, ML Strategies, said last year that he and his colleagues share Baker’s view on energy. Weld, of course, is Baker’s political mentor and former boss. Weld’s firm represents solar companies, hydroelectricity suppliers, and Spectra Energy, the company leading the charge for Access Northeast.
“There are issues with it,” Weld said of the Access Northeast project. “But conceptually it’s a fairly easy sell except for the people who now suddenly don’t like natural gas because it’s a member of the fossil club, which I think is not a well-taken position. It’s going to be a long time before that point of view becomes relevant.”
BRUCE MOHL
BEACON HILL
State Treasurer Deborah Goldberg said Beacon Hill should prepare fixes for legalized recreational marijuana, which she thinks voters are likely approve in November. (Boston Globe)
In what feels like an endless stream of sequels that repeat the same story, the latest report on the state’s controversial film tax credit shows the state paying out millions of dollars, much of which goes to millionaire movie stars, while creating Massachusetts jobs at a cost of $87,000 per position. (Boston Herald)
Joan Vennochi says chill out, Charlie Baker is no Curt Schilling when it comes to transgender rights. Her message: the governor will sign a bill when it reaches his desk. (Boston Globe) The Download argued last week that for all the booing at Baker, he’s not going to veto a bill.
State Auditor Suzanne Bump says she’ll audit spending by the state transportation department on Boston’s Greenway, to which MassDOT has committed $2 million a year. (Boston Herald)
The deplorable state of Bridgewater State Hospital cries out for attention from state leaders who have largely ignored conditions there, says Yvonne Abraham. (Boston Globe)
Jay Ash, the governor’s secretary of housing and economic development, promises initiatives will benefit the Merrimack Valley. (Eagle-Tribune)
MUNICIPAL MATTERS
Barnstable town councilors are considering a proposal that would ban drones from flying over any of the town’s 14 public beaches. (Cape Cod Times)
Fall River Mayor Jasiel Correia, who is switching the city to a private trash hauler, says the $5.8 million in bonds that were floated to purchase sanitation trucks were not handled properly by prior administrations but taxpayers will still be on the hook to pay them off. (Herald News)
The Dorchester Reporter has the second installment in a two-part series on displacement in the neighborhood because of soaring housing costs.
Despite the relatively mild winter, Quincy ended up with a deficit in its snow removal budget. (Patriot Ledger)
The head of Brockton’s 21st Century Corporation, the taxpayer-funded nonprofit that oversees economic development in Shoe City, was taken to task by the City Council for multiple instances of plagiarism in the 75-page report he submitted. (The Enterprise)
Quincy Mayor Thomas Koch has announced the city will install new bricks in a plaza next to City Hall with the same personal messages that were on thousands that were ripped up during the building’s renovations in 2013 and caused an uproar from families who had purchased them as memorials. (Patriot Ledger)
Traffic experts say a Boston city councilor’s proposal to lower the speed limit to 20 miles per hour is not likely to make much of a difference in how fast people drive. (Boston Herald)
BOSTON MARATHON
Ari Ofsevit, the Boston Marathon runner who collapsed and was carried the final yards over the finish line by two runners he did not know, says the act reflects the spirit of the race. When not running, Ofsevit, who is recovering from a dangerous spike in body temperature at Tufts Medical Center, spends time thinking about other forms of mobility. He coauthored a recent CommonWealth piece laying out an idea for all-night MBTA bus service that the T’s control board says it will study.
CASINOS
What did Wynn Resorts know about a convicted felon’s involvement in an Everett land deal and when did it know it? Witnesses at a federal fraud trial are contradicting each other. (CommonWealth)
WASHINGTON/NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL
Some major change for dollars as the US Treasury announces Harriet Tubman, an escaped slave who became a leading abolitionist, will take the place of slave-owning president Andrew Jackson on the front of the $20 bill and other bills will receive redesigns with civil rights leaders and women suffragettes featured. (New York Times) Boston cheers the news about the abolitionist with deep ties to the city. (Boston Globe) An 11-year-old Cambridge girl may have been in an inspiration for the move. (Boston Herald)
ELECTIONS
Hillary Clinton’s VP list will include women, though it’s hard to think too far beyond the one (Massachusetts) name with national standing. (Boston Globe)
Scott Brown, pictured in a recent attack mailer standing with then-Revere mayor Dan Rizzo, says Rizzo never endorsed him for US Senate as claimed in the flier, sent by a dark money, labor-backed super PAC to derail Rizzo in last week’s seven-way Democratic primary for state Senate. (CommonWealth)
BUSINESS/ECONOMY
Broadband for Western Mass? Keep waiting. (Boston Globe)
EDUCATION
A Salem News editorial says the Senate’s “cynical reform” would hurt charter schools.
Charles Fahey, a math teacher and coach at David Prouty High School in Spencer, said his one-month suspension for misuse of student activities funds was unwarranted. (Telegram & Gazette)
HEALTH/HEALTH CARE
MassHealth paid more than $50,000 to seven “prohibited providers” of opioids and amphetamines, says a report from Auditor Suzanne Bump. (State House News)
Medicare has delayed its planned rollout of hospital ratings after an outcry from some of the major institutions in the country questioning the process and results of the formula being used. (U.S. News & World Report)
Life expectancy rates for some minorities rose in 2014 while it remained stagnant for the population as a whole, except for white females, whose life expectancy declined slightly for the first time in decades because of suicides and disease related to smoking and drinking. (Washington Post)
ENERGY/ENVIRONMENT
Pipeline opponents claim victory in the wake of Kinder Morgan’s decision to drop plans for a $3 billion natural gas pipeline into Massachusetts. (Eagle-Tribune) Senate President Stanley Rosenberg urges Berkshire Gas to lift the moratorium on new hookups, but the company says it won’t because supplies remain restricted. (Masslive)
Rep. Antonio Cabral of New Bedford says offshore wind is a better bet than hydroelectricity from Canada. (CommonWealth)
A Stockbridge man’s cross-state canoe journey ends with an appeal for General Electric to help clean up the Housatonic River. (Berkshire Eagle)
Federal regulators have added some populations of salmon and flounder to the list of fish stocks that are subject to overfishing, a key mark toward setting bans and quotas. (Associated Press)
CRIMINAL JUSTICE/COURTS
A Herald editorial says Boston should follow through with plans to pilot police-worn body cameras — despite Police Commissioner William Evans’s view that they aren’t really necessary in Boston’s “class-act department.”
MEDIA
Former Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling, whose conservative opinions have repeatedly gotten him into hot water, was fired by ESPN after the controversial righty tweeted an offensive picture and comments about the battle over transgender rights and public accommodations. (New York Times)
The American Press Institute explores the ethical terrain of nonprofit journalism.
The Daily Download is an easy way for CommonWealth to skew the charter school debate by referencing one-sided pro-charter schools editorials and articles. In this case a Salem News editorial saying the State Senate’s bill would hurt charter schools. The editorial doesn’t make the case for more charter schools though. It talks about the discredited waitlists without mentioning they’ve been discredited. It focuses on charter school proponents like the Massachusetts Charter Public School Association for analysis of the bills’ provisions without going into detail. It quotes the state’s pro-charter school Governor and education secretary. But not one good reason is given for more charter schools in Massachusetts.
The Salem News pro-charter schools editorial gives Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr credit for coming up with an idea to put more money into public education. Too bad the editorial didn’t go into the charter schools bill Senator Tarr is sponsoring. The provisions certainly call into question what’s been going on with charter schools in this state. S.339 is “An Act ensuring charter school integrity” with a provision “Charter schools shall not solicit applications for enrollment by offering money or gifts of any monetary value as an incentive for application.” There’s at least one Massachusetts charter school offering such an incentive, Phoenix Charter Academy in Chelsea, which has a “persistently low graduation rate” and is a Level 3 performer. The Phoenix Charter Academy in Chelsea has no wait list. That charter school has empty seats. To fill those empty seats Phoenix Charter Academy offers $100 “recruitment incentives” to attract students and in return for that $100 Phoenix gets a check from Massachusetts taxpayers for $14,731.88.
Senator Tarr’s charter school bill has another provision: “The board may revoke a school’s charter if the school has not fulfilled any conditions imposed by the board in connection with the grant of the charter, the school has violated any provision of its charter, or the board has substantially violated any provision of this section or its implementing regulations in granting the charter.” If you thought a charter school operating under conditions was a concern then you’d be right. The Mystic Valley Regional Charter School in Malden submitted expansion requests in 2011, 2012, and 2013, which were denied. MVRCS, a Level 2 charter school, was approved to expand from 1,500 to 1,900 seats even though it was operating under conditions and DESE imposed more conditions with its expansion approval. Here’s an excerpt from the March 13, 2015 DESE letter: “granting these seats conditionally will help to leverage positive change and provide confidence that the school will serve all students effectively.” So DESE approved expansion of a Level 2 charter school operating under conditions… “to leverage positive change and provide confidence.” Shouldn’t only charter schools operating at Level 1 and not operating under conditions be allowed to expand?