Mike Barrett

State Senator | Democrat | 3rd Middlesex District MA

By

Massachusetts Legislature to reconsider MBTA oversight under Department of Public Utilities – Boston Herald

Sen. Barrett and Rep. Roy, Senate and House Chairs of the Joint Legislative Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy, sent a letter of invitation this morning to DPU Chair Matt Nelson, inviting him to testify at the proceeding, set for early October. 

“We’ve been disturbed and disappointed to read the contents of the Safety Management Inspection of the Federal Transit Administration.” The legislators questioned whether “the DPU is motivated enough, independent enough, big enough, focused enough, and expert enough.” 

Read more…

By

Lawmakers plan hearing on DPU oversight of MBTA – CommonWealth Magazine

The House and Senate chairs of the Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities, and Energy — Sen. Michael Barrett of Lexington and Rep. Jeffrey Roy of Franklin — invited the chair of the DPU to testify at a hearing planned next month.

Relying on a safety report released Wednesday by the Federal Transit Administration that criticized the DPUs failure to carry out many of its duties, the two chairs said they questioned whether the agency is “motivated enough, independent enough, big enough, focused enough, and expert enough” to do its job.

Read more…

By

Lawmakers ask DPU chief to testify at hearing on MBTA safety – WBUR.org

In an interview, state Sen. Michael Barrett, co-chair of the joint committee, said, “So far as we can tell, the transportation oversight division of the state DPU has 11 authorized positions. Only nine are filled at present. But this division has to cover a lot of ground.”

He said DPU already has a challenging task at hand dealing with the climate crisis and a potential move away from natural gas.

“You’ve got the possibility that the overarching climate crisis will crowd out safety monitoring” at the T, Barrett said. “But you’ve also got the equal possibility that a fire drill around a safety emergency will cause the DPU to backburner the climate issue.”

Read more…

By

‘Disturbed and disappointed’ lawmakers want answers after federal officials slam state agency over T oversight failures – Boston Globe

In an interview, Barrett said Nelson had accepted the committee’s invitation to testify before the panel.

“The DPU has been in the transportation safety business since before the Civil War,” Barrett said. “But its gas and electricity responsibilities have grown enormously since then. You need to ask whether transportation, safety, and energy and climate issues should continue to coexist” under one agency.

Read more…