Time to Make Good on Global Warming Solutions Act

In 2008, the Massachusetts legislature unanimously passed the strongest climate change mandates in the nation, and Governor Patrick signed it into law.  One of the key pieces of that law, the Global Warming Solutions Act (GWSA) was a direct command to the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection to put regulations in place that would establish legally enforceable emissions reductions.

The legislature spoke clearly and unmistakably, dictating that:

“The Department shall promulgate regulations establishing a desired level of declining annual aggregate emission limits for sources or categories of sources that emit greenhouse gases.”

The statute provided the Department with ample time to develop the regulations, setting a date of January 1, 2012, for establishing the regulations and an effective date of January 1, 2013.  Now, six years later, that mandate remains unmet.

For years, Conservation Law Foundation (CLF), Mass Energy Consumers Alliance, clean energy companies and children concerned for their future have called upon the Department to comply with the law.  However, the Department has refused, and so CLF, Mass Energy and four youth plaintiffs have gone to court to force the Department to follow the law.

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