"I think they will want to draw on successful precedent, including California, but they also need to work with the communities that they are trying to help in this region," said Jordan Stutt, Carbon Programs director at the Acadia Center, an organization focused on clean energy development in the Northeast. "Making sure that there is a spot at the table for those communities to weigh in on how this program should be structured and how those benefits can delivered will be hugely important," Stutt said. Read the full article from Inside Climate News here.
"This is a great step forward for a region that desperately needs a more modern transportation system," said Jordan Stutt, the director of carbon programs at the Acadia Center, a Boston-based environmental group. "I think this is a reflection of the kind of process we want to see more of when it comes to climate and economic policy." Others pointed to the additional benefits associated with cutting carbon emissions from cars and trucks, including cuts to other pollutants that are harmful to public health. Read the full article from Scientific American here.
One group that has long called for a regional agreement on transportation emissions estimated it could raise more than $5.5 billion over a decade and generate more than 50,000 jobs in Massachusetts. "A cap-and-invest program could unleash billions of dollars to deliver the overdue improvements this region needs," said Jordan Stutt, carbon programs director for the Acadia Center, an environmental advocacy group in Boston. Read the full article from the Boston Globe here.
Poor energy performance is not unique to Stamford; the whole state is grappling with energy efficiency. Connecticut continues to have some of the highest energy costs in the country. Though Connecticut has made progress over the last two decades — primarily through its Conservation and Load Management energy efficiency program — it now risks falling behind other states in New England. According to the Acadia Center, a nonprofit advocating for a clean energy future, Connecticut invests in cost-effective electric efficiency at "roughly half the levels pursued in Massachusetts and Rhode Island." Read the full article from Energy News Network here.
Acadia Center, among the top tier of regional environmental advocacy groups, had no representative on the committee, but put together its own priority plan – a memo to the incoming governor. That plan offers specific prescriptions, bolstered by data, for how to achieve changes in five key areas: transportation, including infrastructure and adoption of electric vehicles which while steady, has been slow; transition to cleaner more resilient local power; improving energy performance and emissions reductions in buildings; reforming rules for the grid; and improving community and individual energy choice – essentially the ability to use more distributed and flexibly designed generation.