Government News, August 18, 2016

On July 27, Senator Mike Barrett met with PS President Ray Phillips, Gov’t Team Lead Bill Schineller, and residents of his district Nancy Brumback and Steve Gabeler.  It was a productive meeting, as the Senator discussed the project with us for 75 minutes.  He and his wife had recently walked the MBTA RoW and were alarmed at the thought of the existing tree canopy being destroyed by the planned Eversource clearcut.  We discussed the economic impact to the town in terms of lost tax revenue, the Siting Board process, and alternatives to the overhead plan, and our serious concerns about the buildability of transmission lines overhead or underground through environmentally sensitive areas.  In this meeting and again on a subsequent conference call, the Senator recognized the urgency of negotiating a better solution with Eversource before their petition goes to the Siting Board, and promised to write a formal letter of opposition to Eversource’s ‘preferred’ overhead route.

As the legislative session came to a close at the end of July, House Bill H.4357 concerning the Energy Facilities Siting Board died in committee. Senator Barrett, who supported it (also as an Amendment to the Omnibus Energy Bill), promised to co-sponsor the bill concerning the Siting Board again in the next session. 

On July 28, the Attorney General’s Energy Chief, Rebecca Tepper and her staff of lawyers hosted a meeting with Protect Sudbury AND the Town of Sudbury at their offices in Boston. Present were PS Board members Ray Phillips, Bill Schineller, and Chris Hamilton, accompanied by Town Manager Melissa Rodrigues, PS lawyer Richard Kanoff, and the Town’s lawyer George Pucci. The AGO agreed to encourage Eversource to meet with PS and Town after hearing united opposition from Protect Sudbury and the Town of Sudbury. The Attorney General’s Office is also meeting with Eversource to discuss, among other things, the Eversource project.

Eversource still has the chance to do the right thing and change their petition to eliminate the overhead route from consideration, due to its obvious flaws.  As a result of our lobbying efforts, decision-makers at Eversource are now hearing it from both the Secretary of EEA Matthew Beaton, and the Attorney General’s Office.