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Date: 7/25/2023
NORTHAMPTON — State Rep. Lindsay Sabadosa (D-Northampton), along with Northampton city councilors and advocates, spoke in favor of specific decarbonization legislation that aims to combat the devastation of the climate change crisis.
In her testimony to the Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy on July 13, Sabadosa emphasized how the climate change crisis is impacting her own district and will only get worse; a notion reflected in the recent floods that depleted farms up along the Connecticut River Valley, including in Northampton and Hadley.
“What is happening to my district is devastating,” Sabadosa said.
So far, according to a post on July 16 from state Sen. Jo Comerford (D-Northampton), around 75 farms have been affected by recent floods in Connecticut River Valley, Berkshires and across central Massachusetts, including more than 2,000 acres of land, while millions of dollars in crop losses have accumulated from the floods.
The recent extreme weather is one of the many reasons why Sabadosa and others at the committee meeting on July 13 advocated for a home rule petition on behalf of Northampton that would require new and substantially remodeled or rehabilitated buildings to use electricity for all building energy needs including heating and cooling systems, hot water systems, cooking and much more.
“While passing this legislation is not going to fix everything that happened, it is a step forward,” Sabadosa said. “Climate change is real, it is here, and we are in this precise moment suffering from its impact, and it’s only going to get worse.”
Sabadosa explained how the legislation will not threaten any affordable housing projects in
Northampton, as all the ones currently in progress are using green standards anyway.
“That’s the city’s commitment,” said Sabadosa, adding that the city has a moratorium on natural gas, too. “That’s who we are as a community.”
City Councilors Alex Jarrett and Marissa Elkins also testified in front of the Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy in favor of the all-electric home rule petition, which they both co-sponsored.
“The all-electric technology is in line with our mass 2050 decarbonization roadmap and our clean energy and climate plan for 2025 and 2030,” said Jarrett, who added that buildings account for 27% of greenhouse gas emissions statewide. “As we’ve heard, all-electric construction is not more expensive, both from the building cost perspective and the cost to operate.”
Much like Sabadosa, Jarrett reflected on the recent flooding that occurred over the past couple of weeks and how he experienced firsthand a farmer losing all of their farming equipment and crops to the third-highest flood event on Northampton’s local Mill River since 1950.
“That was very sobering to see that effect, and we’re continuing to see an increase in flood events,” Jarrett said.
Sabadosa and Comerford also filed a bill that aims to expand access to the fossil fuel-free demonstration project to allow more municipalities interested in banning the use of carbon-polluting fossil fuels in new construction to participate in the project.
Back in 2022, the state passed a historic law that allowed up to 10 municipalities to participate in the project, but those slots filled up quickly, and now there is a waiting list of cities and towns looking to get in on the action.
According to Elkins, Northampton has already joined other communities like Salem, Somerville and Boston in the process of applying to participate in the fossil fuel-free demonstration project.
“We are simply asking that the state eliminate this competition for the one remaining spot in the project to allow every community to have every tool in their toolbox that we need to meet the challenges of the undisputedly present reality of the climate change crisis,” Elkins said.
Northampton resident Adele Franks also testified for the all-electric petition and the demonstration project as a representative of the Western Massachusetts chapter of Climate Action Now. She said that air pollution causes 7 to 10 million premature deaths in the world every year.
“We’re gathering more and more information about air pollution within the home that is completely attributable to burning fossil fuels,” Franks said. “Please allow these communities to lead the commonwealth and stop digging a deeper hole by building with fossil fuels and the related infrastructure that will last for many, many years.”
Aside from those bills, Comerford also filed one that incorporates embodied carbon into the state’s climate policy.
“In addition to a commitment to building energy efficient or net-zero energy buildings, the commonwealth must also reduce embodied carbon, which refers to carbon in the building materials, and operational carbon, which is carbon emitted as a result of operating the building,” read Comerford’s summary on the bill.
The bill would create a statewide body to oversee the rollout of best practices in measuring and tracking carbon, help boost carbon counting literacy for all those engaged in the building sector, and change building codes with a goal of reducing the carbon embodied in buildings and carbon emissions.