THE REVERE ADVOCATE – FRIDAY, JULY 10, 2020 Page 11 House Speaker Robert DeLeo said Chief David Callahan is there for you, no matter what your racial background or status is. Especially in these uncertain times, Suff olk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins pledges to work with Police Chief David Callahan to make Suff olk County safer. State Senator Joseph Boncore presents a citation to Chief David Callahan. AG Healey to EPA: Do your job to control methane pollution A ttorney General Maura Healey co-led a coalition of states in demanding the Trump Administration stop ignoring its legal duty to control emissions of methane – an extremely potent greenhouse gas – from existing sources in the oil and natural gas sector, putting the health and safety of communities and the climate at risk. A Motion for Summary Judgment, which was coled by Healey, New York Attorney General Letitia James, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra and the Environmental Defense Fund, is a part of a lawsuit brought in April 2018 against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for violating the federal Clean Air Act by unreasonably delaying its mandatory obligation under the Act to control methane emissions from existing oil and gas operations for four years. The Motion asks the Court to grant summary judgment in favor of Plaintiff s, declare EPA’s fouryear delay unreasonable and order EPA to develop and expeditiously issue a rule to control methane emissions from existing sources in oil and gas operations. “Methane is a super pollutant that poses a signifi cant danger to the environment and public health, and yet the Trump Administration is doing everything in its power to allow the oil and gas industry to destroy the air we breathe,” Healey said. “We cannot let EPA ignore its legal obligations under federal law to protect our communities and prevent climate change. We are asking the Court to stop this unconscionable, illegal delay.” Most methane pollution in the oil and natural gas sector comes from the approximately 850,000 existing oil and gas sources. Oil and gas operations – production, processing, transmission and distribution – are the largest single industrial source of methane emissions in the United States and the second largest industrial source of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions behind solely electric power plants. Based on EPA data, the Environmental Defense Fund estimates that roughly $1.5 billion worth of natural gas – enough to heat more than fi ve million homes – leaks or is intentionally released from the oil and gas supply chain each year. These wasteful leaks and intentional discharges of methane could, by EPA’s own admission, be controlled today with readily available and cost-eff ective technologies and operational changes, and indeed, several states have established state law requirements to reduce harmful existing source methane emissions. Since at least 2016, the Clean Air Act has required EPA to regulate methane from existing sources in oil and gas operations. Recognizing its statutory duty and the urgency of reducing dangerous emissions, in 2016 EPA set a course to “swiftly” develop regulations for methane emissions from these sources. Had the agency stayed on course, it would have already issued existing source methane regulations. Instead, in early 2017, the new EPA Administrator, Scott Pruitt, abruptly pulled the plug on the process, eff ectively terminating all agency work to promulgate a regulation. The coalition argues that Pruitt stopped the process without any consideration of the law or facts and without public input, putting communities and the climate at risk. Massachusetts also has long advocated for the issuance and maintenance of regulations regarding new sources of methane emissions. Methane is a particularly powerful agent of climate change. Pound for pound, methane warms the earth 84 to 86 times more than carbon dioxide for the fi rst two decades after release and 28 to 36 times more over a 100-year time frame. Volatile organic compounds and hazardous air pollutants that have significant local health eff ects are also emitted in large quantities by the more than 850,000 existing oil and gas wells that would be subject to an Existing Source Rule, many of which are near schools and homes. Approximately 9,300,000 people live within a half mile of an existing oil or gas well, including 600,000 children under the age of fi ve and 1,400,000 people over the age of 65 who are especially sensitive to the health risks posed by ozone and other local air pollution. Joining Healey in the Motion for Summary Judgment are the attorneys general of California, Connecticut, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, the District of Columbia and the City of Chicago. Baker-Polito Admininistration, MBTA highlight food security partnership with The RIDE G overnor Charlie Baker and Lt. Governor Karyn Polito recently joined MBTA General Manager Steve Poftak and offi cials from the City of Boston, the YMCA of Greater Boston and The Greater Boston Food Bank (GBFB) to highlight an innovative partnership to help provide Boston’s most vulnerable residents with access to food by using The RIDE paratransit service. “Our administration is committed to addressing food security concerns created by the COVID-19 pandemic, and this partnership between the MBTA, City of Boston, YMCA and Greater Boston Food Bank is an innovative way we can support our most vulnerable residents during these unprecedented times,” said Baker. “We are glad this initiative is making a diff erence, and appreciate the work of so many partners to make it happen.” “This unique initiative to address food insecurity is another way that the RIDE is serving residents in need during this public health emergency,” said Polito. “Our administration is grateful to the many leaders, organizations and residents that have stepped up to help their neighbors through the pandemic.” “I want to express my sincere gratitude to the operators of our RIDE vehicles who have stepped up to help our most vulnerable neighbors access food,” said Poftak. “This partnership with The Greater Boston Food Bank, the City of Boston and the YMCA has been a tremendous success, resulting in the delivery of tens of thousands of bags of groceries to citizens in need.” “The unique collaboration between GBFB, the YMCA, the City of Boston and the MBTA was born out of necessity and sheer will power to get food to those in need during this historic public health crisis,” said The Greater Boston Food Bank COO Carol Tienken. “We aim to continue our work together, to end hunger here.” As ridership on the MBTA’s RIDE service has signifi cantly declined during the COVID-19 pandemic, available RIDE vehicles are currently being used to pick up and deliver food items and school meals to residents. Collaborating with GBFB and the YMCA, RIDE drivers arrive at the YMCA location on Huntington Avenue daily to pick up an assortment of grocery bags and shelf-stable school meals. Groceries are delivered by RIDE vehicles to designated homes; the amount is based on the size of the household and whether or not the family is enrolled in the Boston Public School partnership. As of the end of June 2020, the RIDE has completed over 8,000 deliveries – totaling more than 12,000 grocery bags and nearly 60,000 school meals – to over 1,200 Boston Public School children. In May the Baker-Polito Administration announced a $56 million investment to combat food insecurity, consistent with the recommendations of the state’s Food Security Task Force. Last month, the Administration announced the opening of applications for the largest portion of that investment, the $36 million Food Security Infrastructure Grant Program.
12 Publizr Home