Massachusetts Governor Healy Reversed Previous Position and Now Supports Needed Gas Pipelines

      Massachusetts governor, who, as the state’s Attorney General, fully supported blocking needed gas pipelines into the state due to climate concerns, has finally faced reality and changed her position. She now supports those pipelines. According to an article in The Cool Down, she has done two things to support affordable energy: 1) she moved money from clean energy programs to support energy affordability for citizens, and 2) she explicitly offered support for an expansion of natural gas availability by asking the Trump administration to speed up approvals for the Algonquin gas pipeline project in southern Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

“In 2025 and 2024, Healey's administration used $305 million from alternative compliance payments to reduce electric bills. In October, after declaring an "energy emergency," she said the state would draw on that same fee from utility bills — money that generally supports local and state clean energy efforts — to cut heating bills by at least $129 million, The Boston Globe reported.”

     The Globe also reported that electricity prices in the state have increased by 20% over the past three years, twice the national average. In 2025, over half of the state’s grid was powered by natural gas, with renewables making up 13%, an estimated 5% of that coming from hydro.

     The Cool Down notes: 

“The Healey administration has advanced offshore wind projects, clean-grid modernization, climate-friendly building incentives, and a 2024 law meant to speed up clean energy siting and permitting as Massachusetts works toward zero emissions by 2050.”

     However, they also backed off of some mandates such as requirements for EV sales minimums and a delay of the state’s clean heat standard. Healy can so be credited with importing more Canadian hydropower. 

     Former CNX Gas CEO Nick Deliululiis, a self-described “advocate for domestic energy and Appalachia,” and a MAGA conservative, had some commentary with which I mostly agree, since I have been tooting the same horn for about a decade. Below are some snippets from a LinkedIn post by Deliululiis. The only part I would take issue with is the part in the second snippet that wind output is limited in the winter. As I have read, wind output can be excellent in the winter in the North Atlantic, and that the few offshore wind farms online had already helped New York with its winter reliability assurance last winter, not long after they came online.

     The Cool Down article also offered two other opinions, one by an MIT economics professor and the other by a Sierra Club leader. The first response was pragmatic but also supportive of a slower energy transition. I would call that a sensible approach. The second predictably suggests Healy is a traitor to the cause and features predictable anti-fossil fuel terminology.

“Catherine Wolfram, an MIT energy economics professor and former Biden administration official, said more gas capacity could help address winter shortages, while redirected funds may provide immediate help to consumers. "Clean energy will help us break the dependence on these volatile fossil fuels, but it's going to take a while for clean energy projects to get built and for relief to show up," she told the Globe.”

“Vick Mohanka, who leads the Sierra Club's Massachusetts chapter, said of Healey: "When she came into office, she saw things the way we did — that it's an investment in an outdated and polluting, dirty system that's also expensive. And now she's asking for more pipelines."

     Mohanka is not wrong about fossil energy affordability threats. In addition to the diesel issue, the region's heavy reliance on fuel oil, which should be abandoned and replaced with cleaner, cheaper, and secure domestic natural gas, is estimated to strongly affect this winter's heating affordability.   

References:

 

Massachusetts governor backs $300 million gas expansion after earlier pipeline opposition. Leigh Cook. The Cool Down. October 30, 2026. Massachusetts governor backs $300 million gas expansion after earlier pipeline opposition

LinkedIn Post by Nick Deiululiis. October 29, 2026. Post | LinkedIn