Recent Announcements
On Friday, March 29, 2024, the Commission on Energy Infrastructure Siting and Permitting provided its final recommendations to Governor Maura Healey.
Additional Resources
Overview
To meet its required emissions limits set out in the Commonwealth’s Clean Energy and Climate Plan, Massachusetts will need to build a significant amount of new energy infrastructure in the coming decades, including new solar and wind generation, storage, transmission, and distribution infrastructure; however, the deployment of new clean energy resources and infrastructure is often delayed by siting and permitting challenges. By streamlining this process, building in better opportunities for meaningful stakeholder engagement, and strengthening protections for the environment and overburdened communities, the Commonwealth can ensure that needed clean energy infrastructure is built more quickly and responsibly.
The Commission on Energy Infrastructure Siting and Permitting (Commission) was established by Executive Order 620 in September 2023 and is tasked with reducing permitting timelines, ensuring communities have input in the siting and permitting of clean energy infrastructure, and ensuring that the benefits of the clean energy transition are shared equitably.
The Commission was instructed to provide recommendations to the Governor on administrative, regulatory, and legislative changes to existing permitting and siting procedures by March 31, 2024.
Commission Members
State agencies
- Mike Judge, Undersecretary of Energy, Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs and Chair of the CEISP
- Nick Rose, General Counsel, Division of Labor Standards within the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development
- Ashley Stolba, Undersecretary of Economic Foundations, Executive Office of Economic Development
- Amy Stitely, Chief of Programs, Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities
Municipalities
- John Mangiaratti, Acton Town Manager and First Vice President, Massachusetts Municipal Association
- Dorothy McGlincy, Executive Director, Massachusetts Association of Conservation Commissions
- Lizzi Weyant, Deputy Executive Director, Metropolitan Area Planning Commission
Environmental justice organizations
- Eve Rodriguez, Task Force Member, Lawrence Pa'lante Resident Task Force
- Eddie Rosa, Community Programs Director, Groundwork Lawrence
- Rusty Polsgrove, Arise for Social Justice in Springfield
- John Walkey, Director of Waterfront and Climate Justice Initiatives, Greenroots
Climate, environmental, and land-use advocates
- Steve Long, Director of Policy and Partnerships, The Nature Conservancy
- Michelle Manion, VP of Policy and Advocacy, Mass Audubon
- Caitlin Peale Sloan, VP for Massachusetts, Conservation Law Foundation
Electric utilities
- Alexandra Blackmore, General Counsel for New England, National Grid
- Catherine Finneran, VP for Transmission Project Development, Siting & Project Service, Eversource
- John Tzimorangas, President and CEO, Energy New England
Agricultural interests
- Nathan L'Etoile, National Farm Viability Managing Director, American Farmland Trust
Energy siting practitioner
- Mary Beth Gentleman, Chair, CEISP Siting Practitioner Advisory Group
Clean energy industry
- Carrie Cullen Hitt, Senior Director for Grid and Transmission Policy, Vineyard Offshore
- Jeremy McDiarmid, Managing Director and General Counsel, Advanced Energy United
- Jessica Robertson, Director of Policy & Business Development for New England, New Leaf Energy
- Mark Sylvia, Chief of Staff, Bluewave Solar
Housing and real estate
- Matthew Teague, President, Reef Realty, Ltd.
- JD Chesloff, President and CEO, Mass Business Roundtable
Labor
- Frank Callahan, President of the Massachusetts Building Trades Unions
Chairs of the Joint Committee Telecommunications, Utilities, and Energy (non-voting members)
- State Representative Jeffrey Roy
- State Senator Michael Barrett
The Commission’s work is supported by an Interagency Task Force and a Siting Practitioner Advisory Group.
- The Interagency Task Force is composed of individuals from state agencies with a siting or permitting role in energy related infrastructure, including, but not limited, to the following:
- Department of Public Utilities
- Energy Facilities Siting Board
- Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act Office
- Department of Environmental Protection
- Department of Fish and Game
- Department of Conservation and Recreation
- Department of Energy Resources
- Massachusetts Department of Transportation
- Office of Coastal Zone Management
- Massachusetts Office of the Attorney General
- Executive Office of Economic Development
- Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities
- Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development
- Department of Fire Services
- Massachusetts Clean Energy Center
- Massachusetts Port Authority
- The Siting Practitioner Advisory Group is composed of 12 attorneys with decades of collective experience in siting and permitting energy infrastructure in the Commonwealth.
Opportunities for Public Comment
On February 16, 2024, the Commission on Energy Infrastructure Siting and Permitting released questions for public input, also available in Español, 中文, Português, Kreyòl ayisyen, Kriolu Kabuverdianu, and Tiếng Việt.. The Commission accepted public comments through March 15, 2024.
The Commission also held two listening sessions on March 4 and 5, 2024 to provide the public more information on its work and provide an opportunity for public comment.