Government News, June 9, 2016

Over the past two weeks, our Government Relations team has begun lobbying the Massachusetts legislature to support Bill H.4537, “An Act Relative to the Energy Facilities Siting Board” ( https://malegislature.gov/Bills/189/House/H4357 ). This Bill is designed to ensure that the environment and public well-being is given proper consideration during the siting process. H.4357 is being sponsored by Rep. Michael Day of Winchester and Sen. Jason Lewis of Stoneham, both of whom provided testimony to the Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities, and Energy on June 1. Protect Sudbury spoke with the Committee’s House Chair, Thomas Golden about the need to revise the siting process in order to give environmental and community costs fair consideration. PS Directors Bill Schineller, Jim Gish, and Ray Philips met with local Rep. Carmine Gentile on strategy and arranged a meeting with Sen. Jamie Eldridge. PS has conveyed the urgent need to amend the siting process to all Committee members and to Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, Robert DeLeo. We have requested their support for passing H.4537 in the current legislative session, which has a deadline of July 15. A coalition of Massachusetts communities is being built to support H.4537 and similar legislation aimed at protecting our landscape for future generations.

We continue to work with Sudbury Board of Selectmen Chair, Susan Iuliano and Town Manager, Melissa Rodrigues to rally support for H.4537. Together, we have shared our mission with Secretary of the Executive Office for Environmental Affairs, Matthew Beaton and requested his office lobby for this important piece of legislation. Protect Sudbury has been preparing for a follow up meeting with Secretary Beaton to specifically discuss the problems with Eversource’s “preferred route” for a Sudbury to Hudson transmission line and the suitability of alternative routes, as explored by Attorney Kanoff and our PS Research Team.

Earnest outreach continues to US Senator Elizabeth Warren, Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, and Massachusetts Senator Mike Barrett whose district covers N. Sudbury. Residents are encouraged to call/write often to all of these publicly elected officials. Letter templates and email addresses to all of these elected officials are on our web site here: http://www.protectsudbury.org/letter-writing-campaign/

Lastly, the Government Relations team seeks a volunteer who is passionate about protecting the environment from the harm that future energy projects may pose. This volunteer will help in efforts to identify and expose flaws of the current evaluation system and work to change laws governing the activities of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Independent System Operators of New England (ISO-NE), and the Energy Facilities Siting Board (EFSB). Please contact Bill at govt@protectsudbury.org to discuss.