Greenfield Recorder – Blais addresses Ashfield’s energy and environmental bills

ASHFIELD — On Friday, State Rep. Natalie Blais, a Democrat from Deerfield, updated Franklin’s 1st District voters on recent and upcoming energy and environmental legislation.

The town hall-style discussion, hosted by Blais at City Hall, included a review of various pieces of legislation from the 191st session. Some of the bills discussed included “An Act to Protect Consumers from Unreasonable Utility Rate Increases” (H.3143), “An Act to Encourage Parking Lot Solar Canopies” (H.3144), and “An Act to Expand Community Access to Electric Bicycles” (H.3145). Blais also mentioned the climate bill that is expected to be passed by the Telecommunications, Media, and Energy Committee in the next two weeks, and the Senate has already passed its version of the bill.

“This is a huge step forward and a direct result of us talking to you,” she told the crowd at City Hall. “It’s really important that we talked to voters about this.”

Blais’ visit coincides with Ashfield’s efforts to become a Climate Leadership Community, with plans to apply for the state’s nomination by the end of August. At its annual town meeting in May, Ashfield adopted three articles necessary to appoint a Climate Leader, the first of which is a resolution on decarbonization to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and transition to clean, renewable energy sources by 2050. The second calls on Ashfield to opportunities to finally replace old city vehicles with more energy-efficient electric or hybrid vehicles, and the third calls for the early adoption of a specialized energy code setting new energy performance standards for all new construction with effect from January 2025.

About 25 residents from towns including Ashfield, Buckland, Conway, Hadley and Shelburne Falls came to City Hall, asking questions and praising Blais for her efforts to fight climate change and push for legislation that would include reasonable utility rate increases.

“I am incredibly proud of the Ashfield community for getting involved in this,” commented Mary Quigley, member of the Ashfield Energy Committee.

Blais was joined by former Trout Unlimited president and Florence resident Michael Vito to discuss environmental issues with the Deerfield River. Vito said he fell in love with the Deerfield River when he was 10 years old and has been fishing in the area ever since. Trout Unlimited is a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting and restoring America’s coldwater rivers and fisheries to help native fish species survive.

“We are interested in highlighting what is wild, what is born in the river,” Vito explained. “To maintain this, we need cold, clean water.”

“When I hear Michael talk about this,” Blais said, “it reminds us how important the health of our rivers is, what’s in them and how important it is to take care of them.”

Vito emphasized the importance of cold water habitats for the survival of various trout species, especially brown trout in the Deerfield River. Vito said that although brown trout are not native to the river, it is important to help protect the species. Trout Unlimited is working on various projects to lower water temperatures to keep fish and their eggs alive, including trying to increase water levels and water flow through dams.

An information packet distributed to participants by Blais said: “I am fighting to protect Massachusetts residents from unjustified utility rate increases, coordinating efforts to address the climate crisis, and ensuring that climate change adaptation planning helps those most impacted by changes to our climate “