Following today’s press conference where Governor Maura Healey repeatedly touted her energy agenda as a path towards lowering costs for struggling consumers, the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance released the following statement bringing Healey’s big claims back to reality.

“More energy supply alone does not necessarily reduce prices if we expand it using costly intermittent forms of energy. What consumers need is more reliable and affordable energy, like natural gas and nuclear power. Solar is expensive and unreliable, requiring large quantities of additional very expensive battery storage to make it useful. Expanding it like Healey plans will not deliver ratepayer relief. Further, Governor Healey’s plan to put 900 megawatts of new solar online would require new solar fields covering an area the size of a medium-sized Massachusetts town. Where is that land coming from? This plan will undoubtedly only increase costs for families and businesses,” said Paul D. Craney, Executive Director of the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance.

MassFiscal also took umbrage with the Governor’s assertion that she, “never stopped pipelines.”

“This is demonstrably incorrect: during her tenure as Attorney General, Healey blocked at least two major pipeline projects, hindering expanded energy infrastructure and supply in the state that would help drive down costs now if it had been allowed to go through. She was proud enough of her record stopping pipelines that she bragged about it when on the campaign trail talking to climate activists. She’s only running from this fact now because so many everyday ratepayers are struggling as a result of her bad policies,” noted Craney.

MassFiscal warns that the Governor’s push for large-scale solar expansion, combined with her historical record on pipelines, highlights a policy approach that prioritizes optics over results, leaving Massachusetts families to shoulder higher energy costs.

“Massachusetts residents deserve honest energy policy. We need solutions that deliver reliable, affordable power, not politically motivated mandates that expand unreliable and costly alternative energy options and leave cheaper, reliable options off the table. It’s time Beacon Hill stops pretending expensive alternative energy mandates will lower bills and starts focusing on affordability and reliability,” closed Craney.