Attorney General Listening Session

A delegation from Protect Sudbury attended a “listening session” on June 27th at Roxbury Community College hosted by staffers from Attorney General Maura Healey’s office. This was a golden opportunity, given our ongoing campaign to engage the AG since she has been an outspoken advocate for protecting public interest and fighting for communities threatened by big business. Our group had virtually unlimited access to a very receptive team from the Environmental Protection Division, including its Chief, Melissa Hoffer.

Protect Sudbury members coordinated their remarks and made sure to cover all the bases in their presentations – community impact, property value degradation, environmental and health impacts, and most importantly, the flawed siting process and current legislation in committee. Central to the message from Protect Sudbury is that this is not just a one town issue – there are currently more than 40 communities who have voiced opposition to proposed reliability projects in the last 12 to 16 months because they are sited without regard to harmful effects to the well-being of its citizens, local economies, and the environment. Division Chief Hoffer confided this was “totally not on her radar” and committed to specific actions including

• Looking at House Bill 4357, An Act relative to the Energy Facilities Siting Board, which we alerted her to
• Contacting the EFSB
• Talking to the Energy and Environment Affairs (EEA) reps (Secretary Matthew Beaton’s people)
• Meeting with Eversource

In short, mission accomplished. You can see some of our presentations to the AG’s office here on our YouTube Channel.