From: RooneyVarga, Juliette <Juliette_RooneyVarga@uml.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, May 14, 2019 5:43 PM
To: RPS, DOER (ENE)
Subject: RPS Class I and RPS Class II regulations
Dear John Wassam,
I am writing to strongly oppose the proposed
changes to RPS Class I and RPS Class II regulations that would weaken
restrictions on the use of wood bioenergy. Our own peer-reviewed scientific
research has shown that the
climate impacts of wood bioenergy are worse than coal for decades to
centuries under most management scenarios. Massachusetts could be in a position
to lead on science-based climate policy – instead the proposed changes would
increase emissions of climate pollutants while diminishing the capacity of
forests to absorb those pollutants. I write as a scientist and a mother of
three boys, whose future hangs in the balance of the climate choices we make
today. I urge you to demonstrate that Massachusetts embraces science-based
policy by taking biomass out of the APS and ensuring that it is not included in
the RPS.
Sincerely,
Juliette Rooney-Varga
______________________________
Juliette N. Rooney-Varga, Ph.D.
Director, Climate
Change Initiative
Assoc. Prof. Environmental
Science
Olney Hall 102D, 265 Riverside St.
Lowell MA 01854 USA
Office tel: 978.934.4715
Mobile tel: 617.529.3924