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