From: Kam Unninayar <eyatra@hotmail.com>
Sent: Thursday, July 25, 2019 7:42 PM
To: RPS, DOER (ENE)
Subject: Opposing proposed changes to RPS Class I and II regulations
Importance: High
Categories: Saved as HTML
July 26, 2019
TO: John
Wassam
Department
of Energy Resources
100
Cambridge Street, Suite 1020
Boston,
MA 02114
RE: RPS
Class I (225 CMR 14.00) and RPS Class II (225 CMR 15.00) Regulations Changes
Dear
Mr. Wassam,
We have been residents of Somerville since 2011 and are writing to express our concern about the impact of the proposed changes to RPS Class I and II regulations will have on our family, our community, and our environment.
Regulatory
changes should be science-based, and the proposed changes are not.
Increasing
the burning of biomass is not a transition to clean renewable energy and
undermines efforts to enact real clean energy policies.
The
recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report says that we
need to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions in 30 years.
These
proposed changes will not help us achieve that goal.
In
addition, the emissions from biomass can increase rates of lung cancer, asthma,
and heart disease, and the likely siting of facilities in environmental justice
communities will only increase the burden on those communities.
Your
agency and the Baker Administration need to instead invest in a plan to stop
the expansion of dirty energy sources that pollute our air and warm our planet.
We urge you and your agency to do the responsible thing for your community and the environment.
Sincerely,
Kam Unninayar