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Can Massachusetts Democrats Overcome the Power of Business Lobbyists and Pass Climate Legislation?

January 28, 2021

Inside Climate News covered a new report by CSSN Executive Director Dr. Timmons Roberts which shows how industries lobby on climate and clean energy in Massachusetts.

“If you went to the hearings, you got one picture,” said Timmons Roberts, a co-author of the report and director of the climate and development lab at Brown University’s Institute for Environment and Society. “But if you look at the lobbying records, it’s quite the opposite picture.”

“[The utilities] managed to block over 80 pieces of legislation over those six years,” Roberts said. “And of the very few bills that got through, they were virtually all ones that they lobbied in favor of…If they don’t approve it, it’s very unlikely to get through. It’s almost impossible.”