MEDIA ADVISORY
For Immediate Release: 12/11/17
Contact: Partnership for Policy Integrity (PFPI) and Community Action Works Campaigns
House to hold oversight hearing today on proposed wood-burning regulations:
Environmental experts say that Baker “clean energy” subsidies will increase greenhouse gas and air pollution in Massachusetts
The House Committee on Global Warming and Climate Change, chaired by Rep. Frank Smizik (D-Brookline), will hold an oversight hearing on Monday at 11 a.m. on the state’s program to subsidize biomass (wood-burning) heat and power under the Alternative Energy Portfolio Standard (APS).
Speakers will include experts on climate change, bioenergy, health, forestry, and environmental law and policy and citizens from impacted communities in western MA.
Health and environmental advocates have charged that the program being advanced by the Department of Energy Resources (DOER) will increase air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions and remove existing protections for forests, while costing MA taxpayers millions of dollars and diverting critically needed funds away from truly clean energy such as solar and geothermal heating.
WHAT: House Committee on Global Warming and Climate Change Oversight Hearing on Proposed APS Biomass Regulations
WHEN: Monday, December 11, 11 a.m. – 1 p.m.
WHERE: Room B-1, State House, 24 Beacon St, Boston
WHO: Testimony will be by invitation only.
Speakers will include:
- Baker Administration officials and Department of Energy Resources staff
- Dr. William Moomaw, Professor Emeritus, Tufts University
- Dr. Mary S. Booth, Partnership for Policy Integrity
- Caitlin Peale, Conservation Law Foundation
- Sami Yassa, Natural Resources Defense Council
- Casey Harvell, American Lung Association
- Michael Kellett, RESTORE: The North Woods
- Claire B.W. Muller, Community Action Works Campaigns
- Western MA citizen activists
NOTE: Panelists will be available immediately before the hearing to do one-on-one interviews upon request.
For more information, see PFPI’s blog post. The draft regulations are posted on DOER’s website.
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