The Attorney General’s Office of Energy and Ratepayer Advocacy Division is launching a program looking to give marginalized communities a say in how clean energy projects will affect them. The program is part of Gov. Maura Healey's climate bill signed into law last month.
Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Rebecca Tepper said in a press roundtable on Monday that the Healey administration is working on regulations over the next year to create and manage a grant program funded mainly through utilities assessments with up to $3.5 million available annually.
Jessica Freedman, an assistant attorney general in the division, said the Intervener Support program is intended to fulfill the needs of these communities where the projects are taking place.
"The... program is designed to give stakeholders who have been granted intervention to participate in proceedings, but who lack the resources to do so, access to grants so they can hire the types of experts, attorneys and consultants they need to meaningfully participate in proceedings," Freedman said.
The division wants to reduce the negative effects these projects will have such as higher rates of pollution or environmental burdens from utility and energy infrastructure.
Jolette Westbrook, from the nonprofit advocacy group Environmental Defense Fund, helped craft a report of existing barriers and possible solutions.
"There is an urgent need to ensure that communities most marginalized and burdened by the citing of polluting energy infrastructure can have a voice in decision making processes," Westbrook said.
The program will be housed in the Department of Public Utilities new Division of Public Participation office in Boston. It's expected to be up and running in March 2026.
