Growing cruise ship industry splits a Maine island town and worries Boston residents

Hundreds of thousands of cruise ship passengers head to the small town of Bar Harbor, Maine, from May through August, swamping the quaint streets and infusing local shops with cash.

Residents concerned about air pollution from the ships and the crush of tourists brought forth a ballot initiative two years ago meant to slash the number of visitors to 1,000 a day. Though lawsuits from local businesses stymied much of that effort, village officials now hope a compromise bill limiting numbers to 3,200 will be approved on Nov. 5.

As environmentalist Kyle Murray watched tugboats muscle the 3,660-passenger ship Enchanted Princess to the wharf at Flynn Cruiseport recently, he questioned the push for such massive ships here.

“Because [the cruiseport] is pushed off to the side, not as visible, people aren’t as aware of how big [the ships] are and how much how much pollution it contributes,” said Murray, who directs state policy at the Acadia Center, an environmental and clean energy advocacy nonprofit based in Boston. “It’s just not sustainable to keep going bigger and bigger.”

To read the full article from GBH, click here.

Massachusetts again leads on climate change. The state (finally, almost) has a sweeping climate bill.

Months after the close of the formal legislative session, when lawmakers on Beacon Hill came oh-so-close to passing significant reforms only to fall short at the 11th hour, House and Senate negotiators announced a comprehensive bill on Thursday that addresses the climate crisis and promotes more clean energy adoption. The legislation would again put Massachusetts near the front of pack of state houses fighting climate change.

Thursday’s announcement was met with an outpouring of support from advocates and activists.

Kyle Murray, Massachusetts program director for the advocacy group the Acadia Center, called it a “major win for the Commonwealth: for ratepayers, public health, climate resiliency, and our clean energy future.”

To read the full article from the Boston Globe, click here.

Hispanic/Latine Heritage Month Event Identifies Challenges, Celebrates Leaders

Hartford, CT – Tuesday morning, 40 environmental justice advocates, community leaders, legislators, and supporters gathered at the Legislative Office Building in Hartford for a roundtable discussion in celebration of Hispanic/Latine Heritage Month, hosted by the Connecticut Commission on Women, Children, Seniors, Equity, and Opportunity (CWCSEO) and Save the Sound. Conversation centered around the environmental challenges faced by Connecticut’s Latine communities, and the impactful work of Latine leaders advocating for environmental justice in the state.

“As intersectional as our communities are, so are our environmental and energy justice challenges. At a time when Connecticut communities are experiencing some of the highest energy costs in the country, Black and Latine communities are disproportionately impacted,” said Jayson Velazquez, Climate and Energy Justice Policy Associate at the Acadia Center. “Energy burden, which is the percentage of income a household pays for energy, is extremely high in our communities. We must ensure our programs, such as the state’s energy efficiency programs, are deeply invested in to meet the needs of folks who could benefit the most as we continue our clean energy transition. We are missing the mark, and as leaders with access, proximity, and power in processes, we cannot leave each other behind.”

To read the full press release from Save the Sound, click here.

Power Sharing Pitched To Ease Clean Energy Transition

OCT. 9, 2024…..Policymakers across the northeastern United States and eastern Canada are grappling with the best way to navigate a complicated transition to clean energy, and a group of experts wants them to consider sharing power more directly across the border.

Clean energy advocates and academics laid out a case Wednesday for embracing a “bidirectional” approach, which would split Canadian hydropower and New England offshore wind energy for the two countries depending on fluctuations in availablity and demand.

“Adopting a bidirectional planning approach affords us the opportunity for the region’s whole to become greater than the sum of its parts, which otherwise might look like the states and provinces and their respective system operators acting by themselves,” said Jamie Dickerson, senior director of climate and clean energy programs at The Acadia Center.

But turning that concept into reality requires more work, Dickerson and other experts said at a discussion hosted by the Environmental League of Mass., the New England for Offshore Wind coalition and the Acadia Center.

New England governors, including Gov. Maura Healey, and eastern Canadian premiers last month announced they would revive a cross-border energy committee with a goal of boosting regional collaboration and planning.

“It’s happening in pieces, and now it’s about stitching it all together,” Dickerson said.

To read the full article from State House News, click here.

Panel Calls for Greater Interregional Planning Across the Northeast

Unlocking the full potential of Quebec hydropower to balance renewables through the Northeast will require major efforts to overcome barriers to transmission planning and development, speakers at a webinar led by the Acadia Center emphasized on Oct. 9.

While studies have shown increased bidirectional transmission capacity between the Eastern Canadian provinces and the Eastern U.S. could significantly reduce the costs of decarbonizing the grid, such transmission projects so far have struggled. (See Québec, New England See Shifting Role for Canadian Hydropower and National Grid Backs out of Twin States Clean Energy Link Project.)

To read the full article from RTO Insider, click here.

More good news for heat pumps in Massachusetts, as regulators order National Grid to develop special rate

Environmental advocates are hailing a decision by Massachusetts regulators that will give more than 1.3 million households access to lower winter electricity prices if they use a heat pump in their home.

Public utilities regulators on Monday ordered National Grid, the state’s second-largest electric company, to develop a lower, seasonal rate for houses with heat pumps. The decision comes three months after the state approved a similar rate plan by Unitil, an electric utility that serves 108,500 Massachusetts households.

“They hit the nail on the head here,” said Kyle Murray, Massachusetts program director for climate and energy nonprofit Acadia Center.

To read the full article from Energy News Network, click here.

Advocates hope utility’s winter heat pump rate discount becomes model for Massachusetts utilities

Residents with heat pumps in four Massachusetts towns will soon pay hundreds of dollars less for their electricity over the winter, thanks to a new pricing approach advocates hope will become a model for utilities across the state.

The cost of powering these systems though, can be its own problem. Natural gas prices have been trending precipitously downward for the past two years and Massachusetts has long had some of the highest electricity prices in the country. This disparity can be particularly stark in the winter, when consumers using natural gas for heating get priority, requiring the grid to lean more heavily on dirtier, more expensive oil- and coal-fueled power plants, said Kyle Murray, Massachusetts program director for climate and energy nonprofit Acadia Center.

So switching from natural gas to an electric heat source — even a more efficient one like a heat pump — doesn’t always mean savings for a consumer, especially those with lower incomes.

“Electric rates are disproportionately higher than gas rates in the region,” Murray said.

Public utilities regulators are in the middle of considering a rate case filed by National Grid, which serves some 1.3 million customers in Massachusetts. National Grid has proposed what it calls a technology-neutral “electrification rate,” which would provide discounts to certain high-volume energy users, which would include heat pump users.

However, several advocates for low-income households and clean energy — including Acadia Center, Conservation Law Foundation, Environmental Defense Fund, Low-Income Energy Affordability Network — as well as the state energy department and Attorney General Andrea Campbell argue that this approach is inadequate. They’ve submitted comments urging regulators to require National Grid to offer a heat pump rate similar to Unitil’s plan, but modified to work within National Grid’s pricing model.

“Every intervenor in the docket who commented on the electrification proposal in any capacity was negative on it,” Murray said. “And the [department of public utilities] in its questioning seemed fairly skeptical as well.”

National Grid declined to comment on the pending rate case.

To read the full article from Energy News Network, click here.

Learn about three nonprofits working to foster innovation and build resilient infrastructure

Every month in 2024, we are highlighting the work of Give Lively member nonprofits in one category of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals outlined in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015.

The United Nations website states that “the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)… are an urgent call for action by all countries – developed and developing – in a global partnership. They recognize that ending poverty and other deprivations must go hand-in-hand with strategies that improve health and education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth – all while tackling climate change and working to preserve our oceans and forests.”

‍SDG Goal 9: Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation

Acadia Center

This organization’s mission is to advance bold, effective clean energy solutions for a livable climate and a stronger, more equitable economy  in the northeast of the United States. Acadia Center believes that for the future to be climate-safe, humanity can’t afford to play it safe. Their audacious plan? Cut carbon emissions in the Northeast by 50% or more by 2030. Together with policymakers, environmental justice partners and donors, Acadia Center aims to build an energy system that puts people front and center, shifting conversations to promote equitable solutions. Acadia Center works to amplify voices that are not always heard or heeded, striving to find common ground so that our communities have clean, healthy, affordable energy so we all can thrive.

Acadia Center uses a Give Lively-powered Simple Donation Widget to collect donations on its website. It also used a Campaign Page on Earth Day: “Reimagining, Representing, and Reinforcing this Earth Day with Acadia Center!”

To read the full article from Give Lively, click here.

Mass. Gov. Healey Includes Permitting Reform in Budget Proposal

Following the failure of the Massachusetts House and Senate to reach common ground on a climate bill this summer, Gov. Maura Healey (D) has proposed to include clean energy permitting and procurement provisions in a supplemental budget bill announced Sept. 11.

While the permitting and siting reform framework largely has been agreed-on for months, legislators were unable to overcome disagreements between the House and Senate over natural gas and competitive electricity supplier reforms before the end of the formal legislative session in July. (See Mass. Lawmakers Fail to Pass Permitting, Gas Utility Reform and Mass. Legislature Faces Looming Deadline to Pass Permitting Reform.)

Kyle Murray of the Acadia Center said the administration’s inclusion of the permitting reforms in the budget bill “probably signals that they didn’t sense likely movement” in the negotiations between the House and Senate.

He said reforms to expedite clean energy permitting and to enable the transition off natural gas are key aspects of the state’s clean energy transition but added that “any climate bill that moves forward must take practical and common-sense steps to address the gradual decommissioning of the sprawling natural gas system. Any bill that does not do so is not acceptable.”

To read the full article from RTO Insider, click here.

With more extreme temperatures, are ‘virtual power plants’ the solution to our energy needs?

Massachusetts residents can now opt into a connected ‘virtual power plant’ system that puts less stress on the power grid. We take a look at what they are and how they work and how your home might connect to them.

Massachusetts Undersecretary of Energy Mike Judge, Acadia Center clean grid program manager Joe LaRusso and WBUR environmental reporter Miriam Wasser join Radio Boston to discuss.

“I think it represents a significant difference in the way we think about the grid. I think that our parents and grandparents as customers of electricity customers thought of themselves as recipients – that the grid was delivering power to them and now with virtual power plants, what we’re essentially seeing is a grid that’s interactive, where each one of our homes can act as a grid asset so that we can support the grid in turn. And so it really is, you know, a situation where there’s give and take now with the grid.”

“Right now the grid is an important juncture. The next 25 years are very important. We’re going to be using much more energy and we’re going to have to build much more transmission in order to deliver that energy to customers. ISO New England issued a report, 2050 transmission report, and in that report they referred to the historical peak of 28 gigawatts, which occurred about 10 years ago, in fact. So that was the most that we’ve ever had in terms of power generated to meet. And in the region, 28 gigawatts. They’re estimating that the peak in 2050 might be 51 gigawatts, maybe as much as 57 gigawatts – much higher number. The cost of building the transmission to meet that peak is extremely expensive. ISO New England estimates that to go from 28 gigawatts to 51 gigawatts each GW that we add to the peak will require a $750 million in transmission investments. If we have to go from 51 to 57, those additional 6 gigawatts, the amount required to build transmission to meet a 57 kilowatt peak, each one of those gigawatts would cost a billion and a half dollars. So clearly we minimize the expense of building the future grid that we need by minimizing the peak, and VPP will be an important element in reducing that peak and avoiding the cost that we might otherwise have to make in order to meet the future peak.”

To listen to the full broadcast from wbur, click here.