From:                                         Jessica Garrett <jessicaegarrett@gmail.com>

Sent:                                           Thursday, July 25, 2019 3:43 PM

To:                                               RPS, DOER (ENE)

Cc:                                               Ben Ligon

Subject:                                     RPS Class I (225 CMR 14.00) and RPS Class II (225 CMR 15.00) Regulations Changes

 

July 25, 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

 

We are a family in Somerville, very concerned about what kind of a world our eight-year-old son will inherit.  We strive every day to have the least carbon and environmental impact we can.

We strongly oppose the proposed changes to RPS Class I and II regulations. 

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. Our son will be only 38 then. 

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.

Please do this for our children and the children of those you love too,

Jessica Garrett and Ben Ligon, and Felix, age 8.

 

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