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TRICKY CALCULUS: In the coming weeks, Secretary of State William Galvin’s office will announce what number each of the big field of ballot questions will be assigned for the November ballot. This time around, however, the job of determining which question becomes Question 1, or Question 5, or Question 9 will not fall to him. Chris Lisinski has more. |
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OPINION: In response to new legislation passed by the state Senate that would require a ratcheting up of the share of health spending devoted to primary care, Drs. Mario Motta, David Fefferman, Andrew Scott, and Wayne Altman argue that world-class specialty care in Massachusetts cannot compensate for a collapsing primary care infrastructure. If patients cannot find a primary care clinician, everyone downstream pays the price, including specialists, they write. |
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OPINION: Jaylen Brown has become one of Boston’s most visible champions for young people, investing in STEM education, entrepreneurship, and efforts to close the city’s racial wealth gap. The impact of all that doesn’t lend itself to the kind of data analytics measurement being applied to his basketball game. When told at the right moment, to the right student, those stories stand a chance of shifting how a young person thinks about an athlete, a role model, and perhaps even themselves, writes Orin Gutlerner, executive director of Bridge Boston Charter School. |
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| | | By COMMONWEALTH BEACON STAFF |
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Starting in 2024, a group of 10 Massachusetts communities kickstarted a first-of-a-kind experiment by pledging to go fossil fuel free. These ordinances would help determine if a complicated transition away from natural gas could be successfully implemented without scaring away developers with high costs and red tape. |
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But there’s one not-so-small problem with going fossil fuel free, and it’s the existing gas and pipe systems in these cities and towns. Moving off gas for new buildings doesn’t preclude the utilities from needing to spend tens of millions of dollars each year upgrading the existing infrastructure by replacing pipes and ensuring residents and businesses currently served by gas stay on gas. |
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This week on The Codcast, CommonWealth Beacon reporters Hallie Claflin and Jordan Wolman discuss Wolman’s latest piece uncovering how utilities have spent $100 million on natural gas infrastructure in nine of those 10 communities, roughly since they adopted their fossil fuel-free ordinances. |
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It all comes as the state, by 2050, pushes to cut pollution by 85 percent compared with 1990 levels. |
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“It sounds good, being fossil fuel free, and it’s certainly ambitious,” Wolman said. “And yet these 10 communities are a little bit at the mercy of the gas companies — maybe a lot at the mercy of the gas companies.” |
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Claflin and Wolman zero in on the state’s Gas System Enhancement Plan (GSEP) – a program enacted in 2014 that is intended to incentivize gas companies to more quickly fix leaks in their gas pipes — which is now under heavy scrutiny for ballooning spending that has delivered few additional benefits at a time when Massachusetts residents are confronting soaring gas and electric bills. Yet regulators have signed off on that spending. |
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In 2023, the Department of Public Utilities required that the utilities consider non-pipeline alternatives like electrification or geothermal energy instead of replacing gas pipes that lock in fossil fuel infrastructure for years to come. |
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Yet, as Wolman pointed out, out of 500 gas alternative projects considered by the state’s six gas companies for 2026 — 31 of which were located in the 10 fossil fuel free communities — none were deemed by the companies viable to pursue. |
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“We’re at an inflection point for the regulators,” Wolman said. “What’s the enforcement like? That is what we will find out this year in their response to these climate compliance plans that the companies filed.” |
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Gas companies say they are constrained by their obligation to serve customers who want gas. By their interpretation of the law, if not all customers on a segment of pipe agree to fully convert to electricity, or if any customer who previously agreed to convert changes their mind, the company may be forced to modify or cancel an electrification project altogether. |
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“How much can the gas companies recover from ratepayers for GSEP? Does this obligation to serve that the utilities claim exists actually exist?” Wolman said. “These are the key things that the regulators are going to be deciding that are going to set us on this path forward as to whether we can reach the 2050 goals.” |
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On this episode, Claflin and Wolman discuss how these “fossil fuel free” communities came to be (1:41), why the state’s Gas System Enhancement Plan is under scrutiny (7:04), and what the Department of Public Utilities will or won’t do when it comes to enforcing the adoption of gas alternatives (24:37). |
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More from CommonWealth Beacon |
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MARIJUANA CHALLENGE, AGAIN: Don’t call it nine ballot questions just yet. At the eleventh hour, a cannabis advocacy group leader filed a new legal challenge alleging problems with signatures collected by the campaign seeking to repeal recreational marijuana legalization. Chris Lisinski details the complaint. |
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FOSSIL FUELS: For a symbol of how tricky it is to achieve a transition away from natural gas, look no further than the 10 cities and towns running a “fossil fuel free” pilot program: Utilities still spent $100 million on natural gas infrastructure in those communities despite local bans on fossil fuels in construction. Jordan Wolman dives into the expenses, largely to fix leaky pipes, and what they reveal about the complexities of the current climate moment. |
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NO NOTES: Gov. Maura Healey signed into law a $63.4 billion annual state budget without making a single change — neither a veto nor a policy amendment — from what the Legislature sent her. Alison Kuznitz unpacks the highlights of the megabill for State House News Service. |
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WORLD CUP: Massachusetts has wrapped up its hosting duties for the 2026 World Cup. It remains to be seen what the full economic impact will be on the state, but there are some early indicators of success. (WBUR) |
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IMMIGRATION: The federal government is giving employers two weeks notice about the termination of temporary protected status for Haitians following a Supreme Court ruling last month. (GBH News) |
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SAFETY: The Fall River Fire Department and National Fire Sprinkler Association are launching an ambitious effort to change national and state codes governing sprinkler inspections by requiring specific checks for recalled sprinkler heads. (MassLive – paywall) |
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STRIKE: After a strike and lockout that stretched five days, nurses at Brigham and Women’s Hospital returned to work Monday without a new contract as the union and hospital battle over pay increases and health insurance costs. (The Boston Globe – paywall) |
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ENVIRONMENT: A Wareham-based cranberry grower is under legal scrutiny for allegedly dumping sand into the Buzzards Bay watershed. (The New Bedford Light)
The notice to file suit comes after a Light investigation into A.D. Makepeace’s sand excavation practices.
Sand rises in the air in Carver's Cranberry Village neighborhood in April 2025. Credit: Linda Jacobs.
excerpt: A Wareham-based cranberry grower is under legal scrutiny for allegedly dumping sand into the Buzzards Bay watershed. The Conservation Law Foundation sent a notice to file suit against A.D. Makepeace earlier this month for allegedly dredging and infilling sand into Southeastern Massachusetts wetlands without a permit, violating the federal Clean Water Act. The intent to sue comes after years of activism and a recent New Bedford Light investigation into the company’s extensive sand excavation operations. Heather Govern, CLF’s vice president for clean air and water, said the activity is unpermitted. She said it’s a result of Makepeace shifting its business model away from cranberries and towards sand and other construction materials that fetch a much better price. |
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