Next week, the MA Legislature will be holding hearings on key bills to put a moratorium on new gas infrastructure and encourage walkable, transit-oriented communities. Both are essential to combating climate change and creating a green, healthy, and affordable state for all.
Put Gas in the Past
This summer has been an ongoing series of warning signs of the need to take bold and comprehensive action on climate change. Earlier this month, from July 3 to July 6, we experienced the four hottest days on record globally. We have seen extreme flooding hit neighboring states as well as our own, and the same for the dystopian impacts of raging wildfires in Canada.
This should serve as a wake-up call that our response to climate change, despite recent progress, is not enough. We have known for many years now that the majority of fossil fuels must be left in the ground if we are to have even a chance of staying within safe boundaries of global warming.
Next Wednesday and Thursday, the Legislature will be hearing bills to put gas in the past by establishing a moratorium on new gas system expansion. This will help us meet our state’s climate goals, protect human and environmental health, and provide time for us to create a plan for a just transition.
Sign up to testify (in person or virtually) at the Senate hearing on Wednesday, 7/26, at 1pm.
Sign up to testify (in person or virtually) at the House hearing on Thursday, 7/27, at 10am.
Want to submit written testimony? Check out the Put Gas in the Past toolkit here, or use this template.
Tackling Our Housing Crisis
Massachusetts faces a growing affordable housing crisis. We can tout our great quality of life on index after index, but if people can’t afford to live here, it doesn’t mean much.
To rent the average 2-bedroom apartment in Massachusetts requires an income equal to $37.97 per hour. Home ownership has become increasingly out of reach, as the state’s median home price has passed $600,000.
The unaffordability of housing in Massachusetts isn’t inevitable. It’s a result of a long legacy of exclusionary zoning that has disproportionately harmed working-class and BIPOC residents.
The Yes in My Backyard Bill (H.1379) would require multifamily zoning and remove costly parking mandates around public transportation, encouraging dense, transit-oriented development that is good for climate and good for communities. It would also expedite the process of converting unused state-owned land into affordable housing or vacant commercial properties into multifamily housing, among many other steps.
Sign up to testify (in person or virtually) at the hearing on Wednesday, 7/26, at 2 pm.
Want to submit written testimony? Check out the Abundant Housing toolkit here, or use this template.
