Massachusetts

Nearly three months into Trump, here’s where Massachusetts’ climate work stands – The Boston Globe

Published

1 year ago

April 1, 2025

Nearly three months into Trump, here’s where Massachusetts’ climate work stands – The Boston Globe

What it also means is that the state’s aggressive climate goal to effectively zero out its greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, as state law demands, will be harder to achieve without a willing partner in the White House.

So, where are we?

“We now find ourselves in a completely different world when it comes to federal climate policy,” state Senator Cindy Creem said Tuesday at the opening of a hearing of the Senate Committee on Climate Change and Global Warming.

“But we are not powerless,” she said. “In Massachusetts, we may have to change our course, to recalibrate our plans to reflect a lack of financial or regulatory support from the government, but we’re still pressing for reaching our net zero emissions [target].”

Over the course of two hours of testimony on Tuesday, experts from the state and climate advocates presented that new reality — what’s been lost, what’s been regained, and what’s being done to adjust.

Here’s what they said.

Trump’s first-day executive orders attempted to gut much of the progress that Massachusetts has made on climate, largely by trying to claw back the funds awarded via President Joe Biden’s signature piece of legislation, the Inflation Reduction Act. That Act, passed by Congress, directed hundreds of billions of dollars toward kick-starting the clean energy transition, while seeking to create jobs and address historic inequities.

Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell and a coalition of her counterparts from other states fought back, successfully restoring much of that funding, but not all of it, according to Kathryn Antos, state undersecretary for decarbonization and resilience.

“This has been a rapidly evolving situation, with the fate of some of our most important climate grants remaining uncertain,” she said.

That includes a $389 million grant from the federal Department of Energy that would upgrade and expand two electric substations in Massachusetts and Connecticut. That work would accommodate enough power to support 2 million households, and would support the development of the region’s first multi-day battery storage system, which is planned for Maine.

Another grant that remains frozen: $378,000 from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to help address the riskiest dams in the state. The funds would go to creating a new tool to help prioritize risk — a critical step as the state considers how to repair and remove dams while keeping infrastructure resilient, Antos said.

And while federally funded work to install a fast-charging network for electric vehicles is still moving ahead, a $14.4 million grant for slower chargers at select park and ride and MBTA transit parking lots has been put on hold, according to Andrew Paul, director of strategic initiatives at the state Department of Transportation.

Ever since he was out on the campaign trail, it was clear that offshore wind would be a major target of President Trump. That has borne out.

A day-one executive order to pause all leasing for offshore wind in federal waters and review existing leases has sent shivers up and down the industry, putting projects still in need of permits on hold and delaying progress in the state.

“Without all the federal permits, projects planned for New England waters cannot begin construction, even if projects do have all of their federal permits,” said Kelt Wilska, offshore wind director for Environmental League of Massachusetts. “These actions send an immensely negative market signal to developers.”

As of now, the state is on track to have just three offshore wind projects completed by the end of this decade — Block Island Wind and Revolution Wind, off the coast of Rhode Island, and Vineyard Wind 1 south of Martha’s Vineyard. That adds up to just under 2 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2030, Wilska said — far short of state’s goal of 6 gigawatts.

It’s not just state-level grants that have been eliminated. Federal grants on climate that had been awarded to local and regional groups have also been subject to freezes (and, in some cases, thaws).

The Association to Preserve Cape Cod was unable to access funds from two federal grants for six wetland restoration projects in January — work that would make the area more resilient to rising seas. By mid-February, that funding had been restored, said Andrew Gottlieb, executive director of the association. But, he said, it’s hard to trust it.

“We’re spending money not knowing with any certainty whether or not we’re going to continue to be able to access reimbursement, and whether or not the local contractors who actually did the work on good faith are ultimately going to get getting paid,” Gottlieb said.

A $500,000 grant for the Mystic River Watershed Association, meanwhile, was eliminated last week, according to Patrick Herron, executive director of the association. Those funds were intended to address extreme heat in Chelsea, Malden, and Everett caused by the urban heat island effect, when highly urbanized areas experience worse heat than outlying areas. Those cities can be 10 degrees hotter than their neighbors.

And at the Charles River Watershed Association, executive director Emily Norton said that the organization won’t be receiving a million dollars in federal community project funding it had been expecting, nor will it get the $30,000 from the EPA it had applied for after the entire grant program was eliminated. Other projects — to address water quality or make the area more flood resilient — are also likely to suffer, Norton said.

“These are the sort of areas that the federal government has been providing services that a lot of people probably aren’t aware of, but we are going to notice the cuts,” Norton said.

With all these setbacks, it’s the state’s job to figure out where it can step in and keep progress moving, Creem and others said.

That means looking for creative ways to beef up funds for climate work — whether through an expanded green bank to provide financing for clean energy projects, increased incentives for electric vehicles, or other creative solutions, according to other experts at the hearing.

“Mass. law requires us to reach net zero emissions by 2050 and that hasn’t changed,” Creem said. “If we’re going to comply, we can’t have time to be in despair. We have to work immediately.”

Sabrina Shankman can be reached at sabrina.shankman@globe.com.

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Massachusetts

The Massachusetts beach towns better than Cape Cod, per Condé Nast

Published

10 hours ago

May 10, 2026

Press Room

The Massachusetts beach towns better than Cape Cod, per Condé Nast

Massachusetts residents love their beach towns.

And Condé Nast Magazine loves two particular beach towns in the Bay State, but surprisingly didn’t pick a beach on Cape Cod.

That’s why the towns were included on the magazine’s 2025 list of the 17 best beach towns on the East Coast.

“Whether you’re looking to lay out on the sand in summer or prefer walking along the water spotting wildlife and collecting rocks, the shores of the East Coast have a little something for everyone,” Condé Nast stated on its website.

Here’s more about the magazine’s favorite beach towns in Massachusetts.

Oak Bluffs ranked No. 5 on the list

Coming in at number 5 is one of the most popular spots on Martha’s Vineyard – Oak Bluffs.

What they said: “The colorful gingerbread houses for which Oak Bluffs is known are straight out of a storybook. Visitors walk straight off their boats into Ocean Park, a circular green overlooking the sea, encircled by said houses, with a frothy, delicate gazebo sitting in the center. Oak Bluffs has a long history of welcoming Black visitors, and today it is home to the annual African-American Film Festival.”

Rockport ranked No. 4 on the list

Rockport is a town on the North Shore of the Bay State.

What they said: “The coastal region is known for its excellent seafood, beautiful beaches, and historic landmarks. Many a good film has been filmed here as well, such as Martin Scorsese’s ‘Shutter Island’ and Kenneth Lonergan’s ‘Manchester-by-the-Sea.’

“Forty miles north of Boston, (Rockport) has a can’t-miss natural gem in Halibut Point State Park, from which visitors can spot Maine in the distance 80 miles away. Rockport is also beloved by art history buffs: it is home to Motif Number 1, a fishing shack with the superlative ‘the most-often painted building in America.’ It was built in 1840, and was a popular subject because it represented New England’s nautical character.”

What other regions of New England are on the list?

According to Condé Nast, they include:

Bar Harbor, Maine
Kennebunkport, Maine
Newport, Rhode Island
Hampton Beach, New Hampshire
Madison, Connecticut

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Massachusetts

Massachusetts town near Gillette Stadium presses for World Cup security funding

Published

22 hours ago

May 9, 2026

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Massachusetts town near Gillette Stadium presses for World Cup security funding

Up the road from Gillette Stadium, a town neighboring Foxboro is pressing for funding to meet public safety demands arising from the World Cup, with the first match just over a month away.

Walpole’s state delegation has written a letter to the state Office of Travel and Tourism requesting approval of the town’s request for nearly $200,000 to support “essential public safety personnel,” as officials expect “significant spillover impacts” from the premier soccer tournament.

As the Walpole/Foxboro town line on Route 1 is a handful of miles north of Gillette Stadium, officials are expecting increased traffic congestion and pedestrian activity to amount to “heightened public safety demands.”

“As outlined in the Town’s proposal,” the state delegation wrote in the letter it sent to the state last week, “Walpole will play a critical role in ensuring safe and efficient operations for both residents and visitors.”

“This funding will help close a critical gap and ensure that Walpole can safely support this internationally significant event,” the delegation added.

The state Office of Travel and Tourism confirmed to the Herald that it received the letter from state Reps. John H. Rogers, Paul McMurtry, Ted Philips and Marcus Vaughn and Sen. Mike Rush. The office said it will announce decisions in the coming weeks about round two of the $2 million grant program that supports municipal public safety needs tied to the World Cup.

The first round of the program, a $10 million competitive initiative, awarded funding earlier this year to 17 communities to support tournament-related events, including fan festivals, watch parties and regional activations.

This comes after the Foxboro Select Board battled the Boston Soccer 2026 nonprofit host committee and Kraft Sports & Entertainment, which operates Gillette Stadium, for months to ensure it received full funding to cover all security personnel and equipment.

In mid-March, the David vs. Goliath fight concluded, with Boston Soccer 2026 and the Krafts agreeing to cover Foxboro’s $7.8 million request.

Gillette, which will be rebranded as “Boston Stadium,” is set to host seven matches – five in the group stage and two knockout games – between June 13 and July 9. The World Cup is considered a SEAR 1 event, the highest risk level for public gatherings in the country.

“These matches will bring an excitement that this town has never seen,” Foxboro Police Chief Michael Grace said before the Select Board voted to grant an entertainment license for the matches to go on.

Gillette Stadium. (Stuart Cahill/Boston Herald)

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Massachusetts

The best Massachusetts high schools for athletes? According to one study, here are top 25

Published

1 day ago

May 9, 2026

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The best Massachusetts high schools for athletes? According to one study, here are top 25

No other city in the country boasts more championships than Boston, giving Massachusetts a sporting pedigree unlike any other.

What’s unique about many of the state is that several of the stars from those championship-winning teams were Massachusetts natives.

Before they were winning the Stanley Cup, the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, World Series or a gold medal, those athletes were high school standouts.

Which high schools in Massachusetts are considered the best for athletes today?

According to a study conducted by Niche, which accounts for survey feedback from students and parents—accounting for “reviews of athletics, number of state championships, student participation in athletics, and the number of sports offered at the school”—and data from the U.S. Department of Education, these are the top 25.