Mike Barrett

State Senator | Democrat | 3rd Middlesex District MA

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Thoughts on the Glasgow Climate Summit – The Barrett Report, December 2021

For delegates like me, there was a good deal of work to get down to.  Big breakthroughs on the nation-to-nation level weren’t going to be easy, so government officials at other levels had to meet and move forward on their own.  At a panel discussion I attended in Glasgow, a veteran of earlier meetings exulted, “This is the first COP where business, cities, states and regions have all come together.”

Much of the coming together focused on reducing emissions in transportation and buildings, both Massachusetts priorities.  On the day at the COP devoted to “Transport,” 40 subnational governments — cities, states and regions — joined 37 mostly small countries, 11 automakers, 27 large fleet owners, and 32 other organizations to commit to selling only electric and green hydrogen cars by 2035 in leading markets like the U.S.  California, New York, and Washington state were among the 40 subnational signatories, but Massachusetts wasn’t, despite statements by the Baker administration along similar lines and despite its having representatives at the COP.  Disappointing.  We should pass a law to have Massachusetts join up.  

Something to add to my to-do list.

Read The Barrett Report…

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Power politics in Maine – CommonWealth Magazine

Sen. Michael Barrett of Lexington, the Senate chair of the Telecommunications, Utilities, and Energy Committee, thinks the lawsuit by New England Clean Energy Connect challenging the voter-approved law has merit. But he says the situation illustrates how the federal government should have oversight of transmission projects that run across state lines or, in this case, across international borders.

“It should never have been the province of the state of Maine,” he said.

Barrett is hopeful the Maine project will move forward, but if it doesn’t he said a major reevaluation of the state’s climate change plans needs to take place. Roy thinks the state should focus on expanding its offshore wind and solar power resources, but Barrett isn’t sure either one can be ramped up very quickly.

“All of us, the Legislature included, need to reboot and figure out what Plan B really looks like,” Barrett said.

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Baker pulls support for regional pact that would address climate change – The Boston Globe

The administration’s announcement deeply disappointed some state lawmakers and environmental advocates, who viewed the initiative as a key part of the state’s ability to comply with the landmark climate law that Baker signed earlier this year. The law requires the state to cut is carbon emissions 50 percent below 1990 levels by the end of the decade and effectively eliminate them by 2050.

“This is a serious challenge to our climate planning,” said state Senator Michael Barrett, a Lexington Democrat and one of the climate bill’s lead negotiators. “Plan B needs to be brought along quickly.”

He and others said the state must come up with a new way of curbing transportation pollution, which before the pandemic was responsible for 28 percent of greenhouse gas emissions nationally and 40 percent of the region’s emissions.

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In the void of national climate legislation, locals lead the way – The Boston Globe

“Our current situation is different, and yet in some respects it’s the same,” said Barrett. “What we’re doing in Massachusetts becomes all the more important as the odds go longer around significant national action.”

While in Glasgow, Barrett said that in addition to speaking on a panel about pricing carbon emissions, he expected to talk with legislators from Eastern Europe, the United Kingdom, even China, Russia, and Australia, where national climate efforts have not been enough to meet the climate crisis.

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