ECA Mass Monthly Meetings

Our Chapter Meetings are Monthly on the second Tuesday and held via Zoom

Kathleen Theoharides (Katie) was our guest. Katie is the CEO of the Trustees of Reservations. She is the former Head of US Offshore for RWE, a green energy company. Previously, she was the Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. In this role, she oversaw the Commonwealth’s six environmental, natural resource and energy regulatory agencies, which include the Departments of Environmental Protection, Public Utilities, Energy Resources, Conservation & Recreation, Agricultural Resources, and Fish & Game. Ms. Theoharides has also served as Chair of the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority, the Energy Facilities Siting Board, and the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center.

Ms. Theoharides talked with us about her new position working at a private non-profit and how she is working to prioritize adaptation and mitigation to climate change in this role. She spoke t both the successes and challenges of her new role.

We also watched a brief video together for an update on the Springfield Climate Justice Coalition and their campaign to stop Eversource’s pipeline.

Eversource Gas is planning on building a new high-pressure metering station in Longmeadow that would connect to a new high-pressure gas pipeline which would run 5.3 miles a regulator station in downtown Springfield.

The video of this chapter meeting is here.

The July chapter meeting ECA Mass hosted Climate Chief Melissa Hoffer followed by Rep Sean Garballey. Chief Hoffer reviewed the accomplishments of the past six months including:

• The Climate Bank
• Forests as Climate Solutions
• MA DOT Vehicle Dashboard
• The Clean Energy Siting & Permitting Committee

Hoffer was asked about what other options the state has to address Greenhouse Gas Emissions. She said she would review the Roadmap Law Chapter 21N Section 6 that gives the Secretary authority to implement other programs and initiatives.

Although Hoffer was optimistic about the state’s achievements she sees the global warming effects on climate and the need to break through the barriers quickly.

Rep Sean Garballey shared his plans to use his Chairmanship of the House Global Warming Committee to conduct oversight hearings on the state’s efforts. He wants to conduct a statewide climate listening tour to provide opportunities for community members to share ideas and input to address reducing emissions.

The video of the chapter meeting is here.

Lisa Cunningham (ZeroCarbonMA) gave a presentation on the 10 community Demonstration Program and the legislation to expand the program to any community who wants to join and how this relates to achieving equity and climate goals in MA.  Lisa’s presentation is here.

Logan Malik (MCAN) gave a presentation about the Zero Carbon Renovation Fund (H.3232/S.2365) which will provide for retrofits for buildings/homes in environmental justice communities in Massachusetts. Logan’s presentation is here.

Roger Luckmann reviewed the ECAMass legislative team update with information about the bill priority process.  

Seth Evans led a discussion on the new IPCC.synthesis report.

The video for the chapter meeting is here..

Eileen Ryan and the Beyond Plastics crew can give you a thorough education on the horrifying pervasiveness of plastic around the globe, and how the government supports the  petrochemical industry which produces plastics. She’ll convince you that there is NO WAY to recycle ourselves out of the plastics problem, since most of it ISN’T: less than 6% of plastics produced were recycled in 2021. Beyond Plastics says to STOP “Wish-cycling” and focus on upstream solutions: stop making so much of the plastics we do, and work to support legislation to make the change to re-usable and refillable containers. And yes, it does relate to  the Climate Crisis, and ECA Mass will be supporting several bills in our Statehouse dealing with plastic solutions.

For more information go to BeyondPlastics.org or join Beyond Plastics Greater Boston. 

The ECA Mass February chapter meeting consisted of three presentations. 

The first short presentation was by Seth Evans about the Third Act Day of Action against big banks on 3.21.23.

The main presentation was given by Michael Meehan, Communication and Outreach Director of the Northeast Clean Energy Council (NECEC). Michael’s slides are saved.

NECEC is the premier voice of businesses building a world-class clean energy hub in the Northeast. NECEC includes the Northeast Clean Energy Council (a nonprofit business member organization), and NECEC Institute (a nonprofit focused on industry research, innovation, policy development, and communications initiatives). NECEC brings together business leaders and key stakeholders to engage in influential policy discussions and business initiatives while building connections that propel the clean energy industry forward. The slides from the presentation are here.

The final presentation by Roger Luckmann was a Legislative team update on legislation and implementation.

The video from the chapter meeting is here.

The BEA is a growing community of municipal leaders and advocates in Massachusetts committed to a Commonwealth of sustainable, resilient, and healthy buildings, affordable and attainable for all. The BEA’s mission is to accelerate equitable building decarbonization in Massachusetts via municipal action. To further this mission, the BEA convenes municipal teams, catalyzes successful local policies and programs, and coordinates state-level action with allies.

 The BEA’s work began in 2020 around the fossil fuel prohibition warrant articles starting with Brookline and Arlington. Subsequently a dozen more municipalities passed similar articles and home rule petitions, leading to the 10-town pilot section of the Drive Climate Act signed by Governor Baker in August.  The BEA’s efforts have since expanded to prioritize collaborative projects retrofitting low-income housing, with a focus on environmental justice communities. The slides for the BEA presentation are here.

Next came a presentation by Arnie Epstein, Chair of the Stow Green Advisory Committee and facilitator of the ECA Mass research team.  Arnie provided an overview of the new building codes and the work being done in Stow to adopt the Specialized Energy Code at town meeting.  The slides for the presentation on Specialized Energy Code are here.

Watch the video here.

At the December ECA Mass chapter meeting Representative Joan Meschino reviewed the legislative climate victories of the last year and expressed optimism about another climate bill this coming legislative sessions that could address urgent issues related to decarbonizing buildings, phasing out natural gas and other concerns. The ECA Mass Legislative Team reported on their work on optimizing the management of the many tasks required to support legislative advocacy and their new undertaking to monitor and push forward implementation of the Roadmap and Wind/Climate bills.

Watch the video here.