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2016 had its high points
All across the internet and throughout holiday conversations, everyone seems to be talking about what an awful year 2016 was. Between celebrity deaths and the election of Donald Trump, it definitely had some real black strikes against it. But as I’m looking back on the accomplishments of Clean Water Action in Massachusetts, I’m finding some real reasons to celebrate as well.
Here’s a reminder of some of 2016’s better moments!
The Massachusetts legislature passed a comprehensive energy bill that included guaranteed purchase of 1600 megawatts of offshore wind (the largest amount in the US)Boston, Time to Bring Your Own Bag
This past Tuesday, December 13, Boston City Council hosted a public hearing to address a proposed "bring your own bag" ordinance seeking to reduce waste from plastic bags. Unimaginable numbers of plastic bags are used daily, for an average of 12 minutes before they are discarded. Unfortunately, less than 5% of single-use plastic bags are in fact recycled. Many people do not know how to deal with plastic bags. Really the only option for consumers is a bin in the occasional grocery store. But, like I said, only 5% of these bags ever make it to a recycling center.
The other 95% of plastic bags
Boston City Council Votes Yes to Fixing Gas Leaks!
December 14, 2016 marks a historic day in the campaign for to fix aging gas distribution pipelines: an ordinance filed by Councilor Matt O’Malley’s ordinance passed 12-1 in the Boston City Council. The ordinance passing is a huge success and big step in the right direction for riding the city of dangerous methane leaks from our aging gas infrastructure. The ordinance is especially exciting in that it addresses concerns about worker safety, promotes infrastructure coordination, and promotes environmental protection.
The ordinance uses the city’s permitting authority to condition, coordinate and
Proud, grateful and hopeful for the future
In this work sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, and sometimes the thing you’ve been pouring your heart and soul into just peters out at the end of a legislative session and you set your sights on next year.
Unfortunately, despite a year and a half of hard work by the Clean Water Action team and many, many allies, the Massachusetts bill to protect children, families and firefighters from toxic flame retardants met the “peter out at the end of the session” fate on July 31 st. The bill had been passed by the Senate on May 19 th but was not taken up by the House before the end of the formal
A New Energy Law in Massachusetts
It has been a busy, busy two years.
Advocates, activists, health professionals, clean energy entrepeneurs, faith leaders, researchers, scientists, and public officials in every corner of the state have been pushing forward clean energy and climate solutions that empower communities, invest in our local economies and deal a blow to the ever-expanding footprint of fossil fuels.
This week, I was pleased to join many of my colleagues from partner organizations--many of whom are members of the Global Warming Solutions Project--to attend the bill signing of An act to promote energy diversity. This