The challenge of meeting New England’s electricity needs is “getting harder, not easier,” noted a presentation by an energy analyst who co-authored a 2015 report for Attorney General Maura Healey that was widely interpreted as suggesting New England didn’t need additional natural gas infrastructure.
C.J. Chapman, the coalition spokesperson, said it appears the energy analyst, Paul Hibbard, has modified his position. “The author of the 2015 study was unambiguous in the conclusion that there would be no reliability threat prior to 2030 and, indeed, that report has been cited by many in the policy-making community to say ‘nothing needs to be done,’” Chapman said in an email. “Three years later the same author is now agreeing with the independent grid operator, and us, that we have a power adequacy problem in New England and Massachusetts. We ask the same question that Dr. Hibbard does; will it take a blackout to realize we have a problem?”