Energy

Democrat Governor Who Bragged About Stopping Pipelines Now Says ‘We Need More Gas’

Massachusetts Governor’s Press Office

A Democratic governor who once took credit for stopping two gas pipelines said during a debate Thursday that her state needs more of the energy source.

“But we need more gas. We need more gas. We need all forms of energy,” Democratic Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey said in the debate with Republican challenger Mike Minogue, which WCVB hosted with WBUR and The Boston Globe. The comments mark a shift for Healey, who said at a WBUR forum in April 2022 that she “stopped two gas pipelines from coming into this state” as attorney general.

“I support gas. I support gas,” Healey said earlier in the debate, during an exchange on energy bills. She also pointed to wind, solar, hydropower and geothermal energy in the same answer.

“I support clean energy. I support clean energy. But it doesn’t mean that we stop what we’re doing with gas,” Healey said. “We need to continue with gas, and gas is a cleaner form of energy anyways.”

When WBUR’s Tiziana Dearing pressed her for a yes-or-no answer on whether the state should roll back its “aggressive climate goals,” Healey said, “We shouldn’t roll back climate goals, but goals are goals. What matters is what are you doing today to operationalize something.”

The Healey campaign did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

“She stopped the natural gas pipelines coming in,” Minogue said in the debate. He later argued that Pennsylvania has “massive natural resources of natural gas that we need to bring in that Attorney General Maura Healey stopped.”

“There was a pipeline developer who wanted to build a pipeline into Massachusetts, but he wanted the ratepayers and not the developer, not the company, to pay for it,” Healey responded.

“This study demonstrates that we do not need increased gas capacity to meet electric reliability needs, and that electric ratepayers shouldn’t foot the bill for additional pipelines,” Healey said in a November 2015 press release as attorney general.

Healey said in the debate that she has asked the federal government for permission to expand existing pipelines. She wrote in an Oct. 1 letter to Energy Secretary Chris Wright that the Trump administration should bring a “sense of urgency” to its review of a planned expansion of the existing Algonquin gas pipeline system.

It was the candidates’ last debate ahead of the Nov. 3 election, WCVB said on the debate’s YouTube page. Healey is the heavy favorite to win reelection due to Massachusetts’ strong Democratic lean.