Cities are especially vulnerable to the rising temperatures that come with climate change, thanks to factors like the heat island effect. Find out why and discover one simple thing you can do to help.
State Budget Success
Governor Baker signed the FY20 budget last week, which included funding for Mass Audubon’s Trailside Museum and a permanent increase for the CPA Trust Fund. Thanks to everyone who contacted their legislators and Governor Baker about supporting these programs!
Massachusetts is seeking Regional Coordinators for the Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness (MVP) program. The positions will support communities through the MVP process and help them advance climate resilience projects. Think you’d be a good fit? Learn more & apply >
Speaker DeLeo’s “Greenworks” bill, which would develop a state grant program for resiliency and clean energy projects, passed in the House last week. Members of our Massachusetts Climate Change Adaptation Coalition helped improve the bill to include more nature-based solutions and environmental justice criteria, among others.
State agencies will hold more community workshops in August to gather input for a regional, low-carbon transportation plan. Part of the multi-state Transportation and Climate Initiative, these workshops will focus on how to reduce emissions and make our transportation systems more resilient and equitable.
Taking Action on Chemical Contamination
We signed on to testimony in support of bills that would establish an interagency task force on the group of chemicals known as PFAS. PFAS chemicals threaten both public and ecosystem health through groundwater contamination, and the state needs a plan to improve their management.
Upholding Hydropower Regulations
Mass Audubon was also among 70 groups opposing a state proposal to change the way hydropower generators are certified as river-friendly facilities. The change would allow a qualified project to retain that status regardless of environmental changes or needed updates, which could negatively impact river systems.
The FY20 state budget is headed to Governor Baker’s desk. Good news for climate change adaptation programs, Mass Audubon’s Trailside Museum, Green Budget priorities, and CPA—which all received the funding levels we recommended. Help ensure the final budget stays strong!
Environmental Justice & the Climate Crisis
Mass Audubon recently endorsed the Equitable & Just National Climate Platform, which advances the goals of economic, racial, climate, and environmental justice to improve the well-being of all communities while tackling the climate crisis.
Last week we attended Governor Baker’s award ceremony for the town of Millbury’s MVP action grant-funded downtown greening project. Our Shaping the Future program helped the town develop the plan, and will be advising on later stages of the project.
The Massachusetts state legislature released their final FY20 state budget over the weekend following conference committee deliberations, and there’s good news for many of Mass Audubon’s priority programs, including our Blue Hills Trailside Museum:
Trailside director Norman Smith preparing to release a snowy owl
Trailside received $500,000, the amount we requested and a $200,000 increase compared to FY19
A long-awaited deeds fee increase that would restore needed Community Preservation Act funding was upheld, and an additional $20 million was directed to the CPA Trust Fund
Our recommended funding levels were met or exceeded for several Green Budget line items and the Mass Cultural Council (see table below)
The conference committee also included $2.19 million for state climate change adaptation programs
Now the budget is on its way to Governor Baker’s desk for
final approval. He can still veto line item funding, so help make sure he knows
Massachusetts residents value these programs! You can email his office
and encourage him to pass a budget that upholds funding levels for these
programs.
Mass Audubon will be submitting our own request to the
Governor as well.
It’s summertime, and that means fireflies are out and about. Firefly Watch is a citizen science project that gathers data on local firefly populations, and you can help right from your backyard!
Weigh in on Green Transportation
State agencies and transportation groups are holding public workshops on the future of green transportation. Massachusetts is part of the multi-state Transportation and Climate Initiative working to adopt a regional, low-carbon transportation policy. We’ve provided past input with our partners.
Climate Central
→ Worcester and Boston will participate in a new urban heat island mapping project.
→ Discussing climate change leads to more acceptance of its science.
Wishing everyone a great holiday! The days following the Fourth of July are among the dirtiest of the year for beaches, so if you’re celebrating by the water, make sure to bring any trash back out with you, and to bring reusable plates, cups, and straws when possible.
Spotlight on Solar
Despite a 240-fold increase in Massachusetts’ solar energy capacity over the last decade, policy barriers have made a wide-scale transition to solar difficult, and the industry is losing jobs. We signed on to testimony supporting state legislation to alleviate these issues.
→ UK’s goal of net-zero carbon by 2050 becomes law.
→ A new energy storage facility recently went live in Massachusetts.
→ The majority of Americans think ExxonMobil, BP, and other fossil fuel companies should pay for a portion of climate change damages.
Funding Nature-based Fixes
The state Division of Ecological Restoration has announced $2.7 million in state and federal grants for ecological restoration projects, including a series of dam removals that will improve habitat at Mass Audubon’s Tidmarsh Wildlife Sanctuary in Plymouth.
Incentives for Offshore Wind
Last week, Senator Markey joined Senator Whitehouse and Congressman Langevin (both D-RI) to reintroduce federal legislation that would spur US offshore wind growth by extending tax credits for the renewable energy industry. Mass Audubon is a supporter of the bill.
The Fight for the Clean Power Plan
Last month the Trump Administration finalized their repeal of the Clean Power Plan (CPP), instead setting into play the weaker Affordable Clean Energy rule. There is still hope for the CPP, since a group of state attorneys general, including Massachusetts’ Maura Healey, is expected to sue over the change.
Federal Funding Update
Last week the US House passed a funding package related to the FY2020 federal budget. Good news – it included increases in funding for the EPA, Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), and Bureau of Land Management, among others, compared to FY2019 levels.
Last week was a big one for the future of climate change planning in Massachusetts—bills filed by Governor Baker and by Speaker DeLeo to fund community preparedness had their hearings. More about the bills, our input, & how you can help >
MVP Making Strides
Massachusetts has awarded $12 million in 2019 grants through the Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness (MVP) Program, which helps cities and towns become more resilient to climate change through planning and projects. Mass Audubon is a certified MVP provider.
Our Shaping the Future of Your Community program is hiring! We’re looking for a Southeast Regional Coordinator to help promote smart development and protect natural resources in the Taunton River Watershed and South Coast.
Last week was a big one for the future of climate change planning, when bills filed by Governor Baker and by Speaker DeLeo to fund community preparedness had their hearings at the State House.
The success of the state Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness (MVP) program has made clear that Massachusetts cities and towns are eager to be proactive about planning for climate change impacts. Planning for these impacts also reduces the long-term costs of climate-related risks and protects property values. With 71% of Massachusetts municipalities enrolled in the program’s first three years, additional funding is now needed to help meet demand for planning and action grants.
Nature based solutions, like protecting floodplains and forests, are prioritized through MVP.
Governor
Baker’s bill, An Act Providing for Climate
Change Adaptation Infrastructure Investments in the Commonwealth (S.10),
would:
Establish a new, sustainable source of revenue for cities and towns to fund resilient infrastructure and nature-based solutions to climate impacts
Build upon the MVP program to meet its increased demand
Increase the state’s deeds excise from $2.28 to $3.42 for every $500 of a property sale. This would allow approximately $137 million annually to be invested in climate change adaptation and resiliency projects throughout Massachusetts to protect public health, safety, and property
Deposit funds into a Global Warming Solutions Trust fund to provide loans, grants, and technical assistance to cities and towns for their priority adaptation projects
Allow funds to be spent across fiscal years, lending flexibility to support larger, more complex projects
Establish a GreenWorks resiliency program for Massachusetts cities and towns, which would include grants for public infrastructure improvements, renewable energy production and storage, and MVP-related adaptation projects
Develop a matching grant program to support and provide technical assistance for cities and towns to develop municipal microgrid clean energy systems
Develop a grant programs to encourage electrification of vehicle fleets owned by municipalities or regional transit authorities
Establish a grant program to allow municipalities to hire sustainability coordinators
Establish a Green Resiliency Fund to provide loans to municipalities for resiliency improvements and investments
Provide this funding, which would total about $1.3 billion, through the sale of specially-designated bonds
Flooding following a storm this past winter. Photo credit: FEMA
Mass Audubon submitted testimony in support of each bill, both independently and with partners like our Climate Change Adaptation Coalition and the Massachusetts Rivers Alliance. You can also read testimony on S.10 from Governor Baker and EEA Secretary Theoharides.
You can help too!
If your state representative or senator is a member of the Joint Committee on Revenue, contact them and urge them to report S.10 favorably out of committee, so it can continue its path toward being signed into law.
If
they are a member of the Joint Committee
on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy, contact them and urge them to
report H.3846 favorably out of
committee.
Even if your legislator isn’t on either Committee, you can ask them to contact Committee members in favor of these bills. Let them know that as the impacts of climate change continue to become more severe, it’s crucial that Massachusetts cities and towns are as prepared as possible. These bills would help make sure that happens by setting aside steady income streams to fund community resiliency projects.
Today kicks off National Pollinator Week! Massachusetts is home to hundreds of pollinator species vital to fruit and vegetable crops and ecosystem health. Many pollinator species are in serious decline, but there are lots of ways you can help.
Climate Central
A curated selection of climate news
from Mass Audubon’s climate change program manager
Mass Audubon will be speaking at this event next week on transforming climate awareness into action
Two and a half years into the Trump Administration, no climate change regulatory rollback has yet survived legal challenge in court
Climate Funding Bills in the Spotlight
Bills filed by Governor Baker and SpeakerDeLeo to fund climate change preparedness will have hearings at the State House this week. We’ll be providing testimony with partners, including our Climate Change Adaptation Coalition, in support of both bills. Look for our comments in next week’s Roundup.
Action You Can Take This Week: Help Protect Our Coasts
Legislation protecting Massachusetts waters from offshore oil and gas drilling had its State House hearing last week. The bill, S.448, would make it more difficult for federal drilling projects to move forward off our coasts. We support S.448, and you can support it too.
Climate Central
A curated selection of climate news
from Mass Audubon’s climate change program manager
Summer is coming: time to “Shave the Peak” on electricity use
Communities Making the Right Choice
Across Massachusetts, communities are taking their energy decisions into their own hands. Many have started incorporating renewable energy components into their Community Choice Aggregation programs as a way to step up on local climate action.
Funding Farming Programs for Schools
We’ve submitted testimony in support of state legislation to fund schools’ collaboration with local farms – a win/win, since assisting schools to serve local food in school meals, provide nutrition education, and increase garden-based learning would benefit students, teachers, and farmers.
