Letter: Indy Should Require Councilor Bahl-Milne To Identify The Experts She Cites
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The Indy should not give credence to vague accounts of conversations with unknown people.
It is unfortunate that the Indy publicizes Town Councilor Shalini Bahl-Milne’s references to “a developer who said,” “some developers who say,” and “a friend who said” to support her point of view on critical local issues. Who are these people? Don’t they stand by their opinion?
In the Indy for February 11, Bahl-Milne refers to having “talked to 20 experts in the field” and “a letter from four [authorities]”. Who are these experts? Where is this letter?
Lynn Nadeau
Lynn Nadeau is active in public interest issues including vested interests and transparency. She is a frequent visitor to Amherst and a regular reader of the Indy.
Hi Lynn, At the Council meeting I shared the names of the 4 scientists and researchers from the Energy Transition Institute (ETI) at UMass who wrote an email and posted a public comment to the Town Council that I referred to in the meeting. I wish the Indy had included the names and a link to the letter so people like you would get the full information they deserve. Although, I do appreciate the indy for covering all this information discussed in the meetings that our newspaper doesnt cover. And it’s a lot we discuss so may be we all need to start with kindness and curiosity rather than judgment and blame because it’s possible that the info you have is incomplete.
I reached out the ETI because I wanted to make sure that there are no unitended consequences of an 18-month moratorium. These are the four people who signed the email to Town Council:
Dr. Michael Ash, Professor of Economics, Acting Faculty Director of The Energy Transition Institute, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Environmental justice, political economy of health, corporate accountability, inequality, quantitative methods
Dr. Erin Baker, Professor of Industrial Engineering, Faculty Director of The Energy Transition Institute, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, sustainable and equitable energy systems.
Dr. Anna Goldstein, Executive Director of the Energy Transition Institute, University of Massachusetts Amherst Research Assistant Professor, Environmental Conservation
Dr. Brian Yellen, Research Assistant Professor, Department of Geosciences, University of Massachusetts Amherst hydrologist who studies storm water management
Here’s the email they wrote to Town Council:
The Energy Transition must be rapid and it must be fair.
We are in a climate emergency. There are many paths to stabilizing the climate, but the consensus is that carbon-emitting fossil energy must be replaced with non-carbon energy. Protecting and planting forests is not enough.
The energy transition is a massive challenge. The International Energy Agency estimates we need to install the equivalent of the world’s largest solar plant every day between today and 2050. And that is only one part of the solution.
Climate policy is of paramount importance, and it must mesh with conservation and environmental justice. The single biggest threat to our local ecosystems is climate change. For example, climate change is already endangering the iconic sugar maple in our region. We must protect forests and their potential to sequester and store carbon, and we must accelerate decarbonization. We must encourage adoption of rooftop solar. And we must rapidly deploy utility-scale solar. There is no time to delay and behave as if these are alternative pathways to success.
In lieu of a moratorium Amherst should review the permitting process for utility-scale solar while continuing to use existing processes and drawing on the world-class local resources, such as the UMass Clean Energy Extension, to guide responsible decisions around solar deployment.
A moratorium would delay new solar plants. Every 10MW plant (~40 acres of panels) that is delayed means that we continue to rely on the natural gas-intensive grid instead (where NG makes up 46% of regional electricity production). One 10 MW solar plant displaces some 5,400 MWh of NG-powered electricity per year, reduces NG industry revenue by $189,000, and avoids 3500 tons of CO2 per year. Delaying is equivalent to putting an additional 750 gasoline-powered vehicles on the road every day of the delay. The moratorium would boost a Natural Gas (NG) industry that should be in decline, creating incentives for new investment including new NG pipelines.
Energy transition is rife with equity implications. Climate change itself threatens catastrophic consequences for many of the world’s poorest people, many of whom are already suffering from its impact. Continued reliance on fossil fuels continues pollution exposure of vulnerable Environmental Justice communities. Rooftop solar, as currently configured, is only available to those who own a roof and have upfront money to invest. Current agreements in utility-scale solar do include revenues for Amherst and jobs, but agreements might be structured to ensure that landowners are not disproportionate beneficiaries, as they often are in forestry and suburban development. We must be intentional about equity AND we must address the climate challenge.
The transition to renewable energy involves change, costs, and benefits, but it is the only viable path. It is our turn to take responsibility for our choices, to monitor the trade-offs for equity, and to make our actions match our words.