Twenty-one Massachusetts chapters and many other members along with Mothers Out Front allies delivered postcards from customers to the state’s three largest gas utilities on November 17th via a relay across the Commonwealth from Pittsfield to Boston. Relay participants crisscrossed the state, using electric vehicles, bikes, public transit, running and marching. The route included stops in Pittsfield, Northampton, Hadley, Gardner, Acton, Concord, Waltham, Brookline, Newton, and Boston. The day of statewide action delivered over 3,000 postcards and copies of our Mothers Out Front Future of Clean Heat Platform to Berkshire Gas, National Grid, and Eversource, demanding that gas utilities commit to real climate solutions.
The platform asks utilities to partner with their workforce, government and customers to provide clean, safe, affordable heat to all Massachusetts homes. Specifically, we want the gas companies to align with the Mothers Out Front Future of Clean Heat Platform. This demands that gas utilities:
- Offer heat pumps and other electric appliances to all homes and buildings;
- Subsidize these technologies to make them affordable for everyone;
- Replace leaky gas infrastructure with networked geothermal systems; and
- Make clean energy available and affordable to all families, especially renters and low-income residents.
The first postcard delivery was at Berkshire Gas in Pittsfield. For this delivery, our ally Berkshire Environmental Action Team (BEAT) took the lead. The peaceful rally resulted in the company locking the doors and calling the police. The postcards were delivered by mail.
The postcards traveled onward in the relay to the second delivery event at National Grid’s Waltham’s office. Cindy Callaway and Melanie Renaud from the Newton Chapter, and Lee Ketelsen from the Acton Chapter, delivered 2,000 postcards in two large boxes, while over 60 people from chapters throughout their service area chanted outside.
Chapters assembled in Copley Square in Boston waiting for the postcards and the baton containing the Future of Clean Heat Platform to arrive during the relay.
Kathleen Scanlon is a volunteer with the Brookline Chapter of Mothers Out Front. She is a mother of three teenagers, an architect, and the co-coordinator of the Mothers Out Front Clean Heat, Clean Air statewide campaign.
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