massbak

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maz tag 818oddly little content here:promoted primary 4/18 on healy AGsee new englandromney obama care
Mass v EPA

<div class="content" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="field-items" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded" style="box-sizing: inherit;">Massachusetts' highest court on Tuesday resoundingly upheld the state's power to impose limits on carbon emissions from power plants.It's the latest example of states establishing their authority to fill the regulatory void the Trump administration is creating as it moves to roll back the Clean Power Plan and other federal climate regulations.The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection finalized rules last year to require power plants within the state's borders to reduce their emissions annually, amounting to a 7 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from current levels by 2020 and an 80 percent reduction by 2050. It is one of a suite of clean energy and pollution control policies state officials have put into place under the Global Warming Solutions Act, signed into law by then-Gov. Deval Patrick in 2008. The law's "name bespeaks its ambitions," <a href="https://www.mass.gov/files/documents/2018/09/04/12477.pdf" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">Justice Scott Kafker wrote</a> for the unanimous seven-member Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. It "was passed to address the grave threats that climate change poses to the health, economy, and natural resources of the Commonwealth.""The act is designed to make Massachusetts a national, and even international, leader in the efforts to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change," he wrote. Since the electric power sector is one of the largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions within the state, Kafker, who was appointed last year by Republican Gov. Charlie Baker, said, it would make "little to no sense" for the Legislature to have excluded it from the requirements of the law.The court dismissed the arguments of the electric power industry (represented by the New England Power Generators Association and GenOn Energy) that the sector is subject to other state regulations and therefore can't be subject to the carbon emissions rules. Kafker said the environmental regulations don't conflict, but complement each other.He also brushed aside the industry's contention that the new rules could have the unintended consequence of increasing carbon emissions if Massachusetts seeks additional power from out of state that ends up being dirtier. Kafker noted that the state has a renewable energy standard in place that is designed to force power providers to rely on an increasing amount of clean energy."Far from causing increased greenhouse gas emissions from out-of-State generators," Kafker wrote, state environmental officials had provided convincing evidence that "the two regulations together will send a market signal that Massachusetts' neighbors should invest in clean energy development in order to satisfy the Commonwealth's increasing demand for renewable energy."<h3 style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.333;">Massachusetts' Push Away from Fossil Fuels</h3>The decision comes at  pivotal moment for Massachusetts, as it transitions to cleaner energy.The state's last coal plant, Brayton Point in Somerset, closed last year, and the state has been investing in the infrastructure to support <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/09042018/offshore-wind-renewable-energy-massachusetts-manufacturing-jobs-mandate-new-bedford-port-boston" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">an offshore wind industry</a>. The <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/23082018/wind-energy-prices-market-growth-offshore-tax-credits-turbines-technology" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">Vineyard Wind project</a>, an 800 megawatt offshore wind farm planned off the coast of Martha's Vineyard, is expected to soon start the state toward its goal of having <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/02082018/massachusetts-renewable-energy-climate-change-wind-energy-solar-energy" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">1,600 megawatts of offshore wind energy</a> by 2027."It spells the end of fossil fuel electricity in Massachusetts," said David Ismay, an attorney with the Boston-based Conservation Law Foundation, arguing the standards will mean a gradual phase-down in the natural gas generation, which dominates the state's electricity mix."It solidifies the shift to clean energy."<h3 style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.333;">States Leading the Way Toward Cleaner Energy</h3>The Massachusetts plan to reduce carbon emissions from power plants is just one example of states seizing the initiative to force reductions in greenhouse gases over the past year as President Donald Trump has made clear his intention to abandon the U.S. commitment to reduce emissions. <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/28082018/california-100-percent-clean-energy-electricity-vote-climate-change-leadership-zero-carbon-electric-vehicles" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">California</a> lawmakers last week voted to require that state's utilities to use 100 percent carbon-free power by 2050. Hawaii has a similar requirement. Other states have increased their renewable portfolio standards for clean energy.Massachusetts is also part of the nine-state Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, which last year updated its cap-and-trade program to achieve a 30 percent reduction in carbon pollution from the region's power plants by 2030. (In 2016, the Massachusetts high court said that state officials could not rely on RGGI alone to achieve the goals of the state's Global Warming Solutions Act, since it did not guarantee Massachusetts-based emissions reductions. The rules upheld on Tuesday were written in response to that ruling.)Governors of <a href="https://www.usclimatealliance.org/publications/2018/8/21/states-reject-administrations-attempt-to-weaken-clean-power-standards-dwm9z" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">a dozen states</a> have committed to reduce emissions in line with the U.S. goals under the Paris Agreement even though Trump has announced his intention to withdraw. The climate action commitments made by states, cities and businesses will be the focus of a <a href="http://globalclimateactionsummit.org/" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">Global Climate Action Summit</a> scheduled for next week in San Francisco.Ismay said he believed the Massachusetts court decision will resonate beyond the state."We can't solve it alone," he said. "But we can have an impact by pointing a way forward, and passing strong laws that are upheld."</div></div></div></div><div class="tagged-with" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-transform: uppercase; margin-bottom: 1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><label style="box-sizing: inherit; display: block; line-height: 1.2;">PUBLISHED UNDER:</label><div class="field field-name-field-topics field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="field-items" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="field-item even" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: inline-block; padding-right: 0.5em;"><a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/topics/clean-energy" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">CLEAN ENERGY</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="field-items" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="field-item even" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: inline-block; padding-right: 0.5em;"><a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/topic/climate-change" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">CLIMATE CHANGE</a></div></div></div></div><div>=</div><div><a href="http://bigthink.com/strange-maps/map-shows-huge-differences-in-educational-attainment-across-us">http://bigthink.com/strange-maps/map-shows-huge-differences-in-educational-attainment-across-us</a></div><div>
</div><div><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem 1.1rem; padding: 0px 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 1.54; list-style-position: outside; background-color: rgb(250, 250, 250);"><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px;">District of Columbia is the best-educated part of the country: 56.8% of its residents have at least a Bachelor's degree.</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px;">Second is Massachusetts, with 42.7%. While a lot of dark blue clusters on the East Coast, the third-highest score is for Colorado, way out west: 39.9%.</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px;">Worst-scoring state is West Virginia, where just 20.8% of the residents 25 and older have at least a Bachelor's degree. That's just over a third of the share of Bachelor's degree holders in DC. </li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px;">The Mountain State is marginally outperformed by Mississippi, where 21.8% have completed a college or university education.</li></ul>Educational attainment is linked to income. In 2016, the average median income as divided per highest attained degree was as follows:<ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem 1.1rem; padding: 0px 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 1.54; list-style-position: outside; background-color: rgb(250, 250, 250);"><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px;">$27,800 – didn't finish high school</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px;">$36,700 – high school or equivalent</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px;">$67,300 – Bachelor's degree</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px;">$95,200 – advanced degree</li></ul>Map found <a href="http://overflow.solutions/demographic-traits/what-states-have-the-most-people-with-a-bachelors-degree/" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; line-height: inherit;">here</a> at <a href="http://overflow.solutions/" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; line-height: inherit;">Overflow Data</a>, via <a href="https://twitter.com/simongerman600" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; line-height: inherit;">Simon Kuestenmacher</a>. Additional information <a href="https://www.marketingcharts.com/industries/education-81827" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; line-height: inherit;">here</a> at <a href="https://www.marketingcharts.com/industries/education-81827" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; line-height: inherit;">Marketing Charts</a>.</div><div>
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Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has handed ExxonMobil another defeat in the company's legal battle to head off climate investigations into whether it misled investors and the public about the risks of climate change.The court ruled Friday that Attorney General Maura Healey has the authority to compel Exxon to turn over records showing whether the oil company's marketing or sale of fossil fuel products violated the state's consumer protection law.In its <a href="https://www.mass.gov/files/documents/2018/04/13/SJC12376%20EXXON%20MOBIL%20CORPORATION%20vs%20ATTORNEY%20GENERAL.pdf.pdf" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">32-page opinion</a>, the state's highest court ruled that Healey may proceed with enforcing a civil investigative demand—similar to a subpoena—for Exxon documents related to climate change dating back four decades. Her office issued the demand nearly two years ago.The court rejected each of Exxon's arguments that Healey's investigation should be stopped. Among other things, Exxon had claimed that Healey was biased based on her participation in a coalition of attorneys general formed to look into the fossil fuel industry's actions, and that the company was outside of Healey's reach because the corporation did not do business in the state, though it has 300 Exxon and Mobil franchise gas stations in Massachusetts.The court also made a strong statement about climate change, writing: "The Attorney General's investigation concerns climate change caused by manmade greenhouse gas emissions—a distinctly modern threat that grows more serious with time, and the effects of which are already being felt in Massachusetts. More particularly, the investigation is premised on the Attorney General's belief that Exxon may have misled Massachusetts residents about the impact of fossil fuels on both the Earth's climate and the value of the company."A spokesman for Exxon did not respond to a request for comment....<a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/13042018/exxon-climate-change-investigation-massachusetts-supreme-court-ruling-refuses-block-attorney-general-healey">https://insideclimatenews.org/news/13042018/exxon-climate-change-investigation-massachusetts-supreme-court-ruling-refuses-block-attorney-general-healey</a>
apr 13u mass divest 1st<a href="http://ecowatch.com/2016/05/26/umass-divest-fossil-fuels/">http://ecowatch.com/2016/05/26/umass-divest-fossil-fuels/</a>
MassachusettsFor the third year running, Massachusetts won the coveted <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/11/06/2904801/state-energy-efficiency/" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none;">top spot</a> on the annual energy efficiency state scorecard released every year by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy. Massachusetts has held onto its lead due in large part to the continued implementation and growth of the programs put in place in 2008 with the passage of the Green Communities Act. This landmark law required utilities to increase investment in energy efficiency measures, mandated the design and implementation of three-year energy efficiency plans for gas and electric utilities, required that 15 percent of electricity be supplied by new renewable power facilities by 2020, established a pilot program for utilities to enter into long-term contracts with renewable energy developers and encouraged green building design through updated codes, training, and assistance.
=<a href="http://ecowatch.com/2016/05/17/mass-climate-change-lawsuit/">http://ecowatch.com/2016/05/17/mass-climate-change-lawsuit/</a>
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