Massachusetts
Massachusetts Drivers Burned More Gasoline in 2023, Frustrating Governor Healey's Climate Policies – Streetsblog Massachusetts
In a frustrating setback to the Commonwealth’s climate goals, Massachusetts drivers incinerated 24 million more gallons of gasoline in 2023 than they did in 2022, according to state tax collection data.
That represents the third consecutive year of rising gasoline consumption in the Commonwealth since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The trend undermines the state’s climate strategy, which calls for fossil fuel use to converge quickly toward zero in the next two decades.
Fuel tax collection data indicate rising emissions from cars and trucks
Data for the Commonwealth’s gasoline consumption can be inferred from the Department of Revenue’s Blue Book reports, which provide detailed information about monthly collections from the state’s fuel tax.
Those reports show that Massachusetts collected $612 million in fuel taxes in calendar year 2023. At a tax rate of 24 cents per gallon, that implies that Massachusetts drivers bought and burned 2.55 billion gallons of gasoline last year.
To put that number in perspective, imagine replacing all the water in Walden Pond with gasoline, and setting it on fire – and doing it again every four months.*
When burned, each gallon of gasoline generates 8.89 kilograms of carbon dioxide in the exhaust from cars and trucks, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. So the 2.55 billion gallons of gasoline that Massachusetts drivers bought and burned in 2023 generated 22.68 million metric tons of greenhouse gases – roughly one-third of the climate-heating emissions from the entire Massachusetts economy.
Pollution remains below pre-pandemic levels — for now
The state’s tax revenue data show that gasoline consumption dipped considerably in 2020, as millions of Massachusetts residents dramatically curtailed their travel during the Covid-19 pandemic.
And although consumption has been rising steadily since then, gasoline consumption does still remain below pre-pandemic levels. Statewide gasoline consumption in 2023 was almost 9 percent, or 245 million gallons, less than it was in 2019.
Transportation generates more air pollution in general, and climate pollution in particular, than any other sector of the Massachusetts economy.
And while other sectors, like buildings and electric power plants, are becoming more efficient over time by using less energy and transitioning to cleaner sources of power, the fuel tax data show that the Massachusetts transportation sector has been stubbornly resistant to making similar progress.
Under the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2008 and the “climate roadmap” law of 2021, the transportation sector will to reverse these trends relatively quickly, and dramatically.
Fuel tax revenues not keeping pace with funding needs
At the same time, the fuel tax remains a major source of funding for new transportation investments across the Commonwealth – but the growth in fuel tax revenue isn’t anywhere close to keeping pace with the state’s infrastructure investment needs.
The $612 million that Massachusetts collected in fuel tax revenue in 2023 was only a one percent increase over the $607 million the state collected in 2022.
Meanwhile, the inflation rate between mid-2022 and mid-2023 was about 3 percent.
So even though Bay State residents are burning more gasoline, the true, inflation-adjusted value of fuel tax collections is actually going down – making less money available for cleaner transportation projects and programs.
* Walden Pond contains an estimated 3.2 million cubic meters of water, according to “Geohydrology and Limnology of Walden Pond, Concord,
Massachusetts” by John A. Colman and Paul J. Friesz (2001), which is equivalent to about 845.4 million gallons – about one-third the volume of the Commonwealth’s annual gasoline consumption.
U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton, a moderate Massachusetts Democrat, secured enough delegate support Saturday to appear on the state’s primary ballot as he challenges incumbent U.S. Sen. Ed Markey in this year’s Senate race.
Yet even though Moulton cleared a key hurdle to continue his Senate bid, it was Markey who won the party’s endorsement after winning more than 50% of the delegation’s support.
“You have a choice, you have to decide what the future looks like and what you’re going to demand,” Markey said Saturday in front of more than 4,000 delegates.
Markey won nearly 73% of the delegates’ support, while Moulton won nearly 27% of the vote. Massachusetts Democratic Party rules require statewide candidates to get at least 15% of delegate support to appear on primary ballots.
In heavily Democratic Massachusetts, the Senate primary contest is one of the most closely watched in the country as Moulton, 47, has centered his campaign on changing the status quo and demanding a generational shift in leadership.
If reelected, Markey would be 80 before his third six-year term would begin. While Markey has touted his stamina and embrace of progressive policies, questions about age have continued to swirl around Democratic candidates as they fight to take back control of Congress.
Incumbent Sen. Ed Markey is leading Rep. Seth Moulton, but if Rep. Ayanna Pressley were to enter the Democratic primary, it would change the picture, according to a new poll from Suffolk University and The Boston Globe.
In his nomination speech, Moulton argued that the Democratic Party needed more than “incremental change” and needed to start anew.
“It’s time for the generation that grew up with the internet, and will have to live for decades with AI, to lead our way through it,” Moulton said.
Moulton only addressed his opponent briefly during his nomination speech, giving a passing nod on not waiting another six years for generational change and later calling on Markey to participate in multiple debates before the September primary. Currently, the two candidates have agreed to participate in one debate later this summer.
Markey, instead, took a more critical approach by attacking Moulton’s previous comments about transgender kids and accepting corporate PAC money.
“Massachusetts deserves better than a senator who scapegoats trans kids,” Markey said to loud cheers.
In 2024, Moulton caught flak from some members of his party for saying he didn’t want his daughters playing in sports against transgender girls. Critics said Moulton echoed Trump’s talking points against allowing transgender athletes in girls’ and women’s sports.
Moulton has since said his intent with that statement “was to point out that, as a party, we need to be willing to have difficult conversations.”
Moulton, who enlisted in the Marines after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and served four tours of duty in Iraq, was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2014. He briefly launched a 2020 presidential campaign, but he dropped that bid after a few months.
Markey served as a Massachusetts congressman for nearly 40 years before winning the Senate seat in 2013. He fended off a challenge in 2020 from Rep. Joe Kennedy III in the Senate primary by turning to his progressive allies to overcome a challenge from a younger rival from America’s most famous political family.
The Massachusetts primary is Sept. 1.
RANDOLPH, Mass. (WWLP) – A Randolph resident has won a $1 million prize through the final drawing of the Massachusetts State Lottery “$4,000,000 Monopoly Doubler” instant ticket game.
Brenda Mellor of Randolph claimed the game’s tenth and final $1 million prize.
She selected the cash option and received a one-time payment of $650,000 before taxes. Mellor said she plans to use the winnings to pay for home improvements, including renovations to her roof and pool.
The winning ticket was purchased at The Variety Store at 2 Mazzeo Drive in Randolph. The retailer will receive a $10,000 bonus for selling the ticket.
Local News Headlines
WWLP-22News, an NBC affiliate, began broadcasting in March 1953 to provide local news, network, syndicated, and local programming to western Massachusetts. Download the 22News Plus app on your TV to watch live-streaming newscasts and video on demand.
Massachusetts
Mass. is getting more granny flats. But it’s still hard to build them. – The Boston Globe
Massachusetts took a big step in 2024 when the Legislature legalized so-called “accessory dwelling units” statewide as part of an effort to rein in the state’s housing crisis. More than a year later, it’s clear that the law is working — but that it also needs tweaks before accessory units can meet their full potential.
These small units, nicknamed “granny flats,” can be constructed in someone’s backyard, or they can simply be renovated third floors, garages, or basements. They’re a popular option for seniors seeking to downsize and families looking for some rental income.
Prior to the state law, some communities allowed accessory units, but many did not. Even among those cities and towns that did tolerate accessory dwelling units, zoning often varied from one municipality to the next, making it difficult for builders who needed to decode each municipality’s rules. Some towns also included unreasonable restrictions, like requiring that only a homeowner’s family members could live in the accessory units.
Housing advocates viewed allowing accessory dwelling units statewide as a “low-hanging fruit” policy — a way to add housing that was relatively cheap and avoided some of the cost and political obstacles that housing measures often encounter. The state legislation also overrode some zoning restrictions, including those that limited accessory units to family, while leaving some other local rules intact.
One year after the law went into effect, this approach has proved fruitful: Towns across the state have approved 1,200 ADU permits and seen even more applications, in some cases up to a threefold increase from previous years.
A study published last week by Boston Indicators (the research branch of the Boston Foundation) and Abundant Housing Massachusetts found that forcing the hand of municipalities on accessory dwelling units accomplished more in one year than 50 years of zoning reform efforts at the local level.
The problem, though, is that municipalities retained too much power. As the study recommends, there should be clear, uniform state regulatory standards for ADUs, with minimal opportunities for municipal-level variation.
“A comprehensive agenda is needed to address regulatory barriers to housing production, spanning building, fire, energy, septic system, wetlands, and stormwater rules,” the study’s authors wrote. “The barriers include the fragmented complexity of the regulatory system itself.”
Making standards more uniform doesn’t have to mean lowering them — it just means moving away from patchwork rules that make it harder for companies to build accessory units at scale.
Chris Lee at Backyard ADUs, a company that designs and builds modular dwelling units in New England, says the report’s findings make sense. The inconsistent interpretations across 350 towns and cities cause builders and engineers to “struggle to design work for the town that will be accepted,” he said. (The state’s 351st municipality, Boston, isn’t covered by the law.)
The potential is significant. The report calculates that if just 2 percent of single-family homes in Massachusetts added an accessory unit, the state would see more than 30,000 new homes that advocates say are generally more affordable. Building an accessory dwelling unit inside a pre-existing house can cost between $75,000 and $100,000; and a detached unit usually runs between $250,000 to $350,000, making them much more affordable than purchasing a single-family home in most regions of the country.
“For developers of missing middle housing to benefit from an economy of scale, they have to undertake many projects, across jurisdictional lines,” according to the study. “The ADU case study has shown just how challenging this is.”
Lee estimated that he could reduce up to $30,000 of preconstruction costs such as surveying and architecture if his company could work with consistent regulations across towns, which he said could enable them to double their production.
Streamlining permitting for accessory dwelling units isn’t a panacea. Landlords still must be willing to actually build them and rent them to long-term residents. Retirees must believe it’s worth downsizing to one. But the fact that so many have been permitted over the last year point to the clear demand and makes the case for policy makers to keep refining the law.
There is precedent. California, for example, had an equally ambitious goal but has blown past it, going from only 1,300 permits approved its first year to more than 30,000 nine years later. “It is important to understand that California did not accomplish its ADU outcomes with one legislative reform,” the study’s authors wrote. “California’s success required sustained legislative attention.”
Massachusetts should be able to realize those kinds of results too. Conversely, if even the “low-hanging fruit” of zoning reform falters in the Commonwealth because of local red tape, then the state has bigger problems ahead to solve its housing crisis.
Editorials represent the views of the Boston Globe Editorial Board. Follow us @GlobeOpinion.
-
Lifestyle9 minutes agoIs your neighborhood riddled with dog poop? : It’s Been a Minute
-
Education17 minutes agoHow a Recent College Graduate Lives on $18 Per Hour in the East Bronx
-
Technology19 minutes agoAsus just announced the OLED Xbox Ally X of my dreams
-
World25 minutes agoUS military attacks Iran in ‘self-defense strikes’ over weekend
-
Politics32 minutes agoNYC landlord pleads for help as ‘9-year-squatter’ continues to drain him dry in court saga: ‘Twilight Zone’
-
Health34 minutes agoSleep doctor reveals the brutal health downside of daylight saving time
-
Sports40 minutes agoUSMNT star Christian Pulisic finally ends lengthy goal drought in win over Senegal
-
Technology47 minutes agoYour senior parents are easier to impersonate than you are
