Dear X,

I am contacting you about a new statewide coalition, MASS POWER FORWARD. Massachusetts has emerged as a national leader on energy, making substantial progress in transitioning away from polluting sources of power to energy efficiency andrenewable energy such as solar. However, our state is now poised to invest billions of dollars to replace retiring power plants withdangerous, long-lived fossil fuel infrastructure that will shape our future in the wrong direction.

MASS POWER FORWARDwants to ensure that will not happen. As a coalition, we want to our state to adopt an energy policy that supports local renewable energy resources, keeps energy dollars in our communities, creates good green jobs and protects our Commonwealth from climate change and life-threatening pollution.We believe that communities burdened by polluting energy need a smooth transition to remain whole. We also believe this all can be accomplished by building a groundswell of public support.

To reach our goals, wewill call on our Governor and legislature to 'power forward' with energy solutions that are accountable to our communities, our environment and our future.This month is a critical time. Governor Baker is off to Canada next week to discuss plans to transport ‘fracked’ gas through New England to Canada and then, as LNG, to Europe and Asia. He also supports a tariff that will make the public subsidize the $7 Billion cost for gas infrastructure that will raise local costs and limit supply of electricity. At the end of September, our state legislature will begin making key decisionsregarding gas, coal, nuclear, hydro, solar, wind, efficiency, including bills to lift solarnet meteringcaps and community solar, both strongly endorsed by our coalition.

Because you are an advocate of clean energy, it would be wonderful if you could join our efforts individually and/or as a leader of your group. It is becoming ever more apparent that meeting the challenge of climate change is a moral, economic, justice, health, safety and environmental issue and that we need diverse citizens and organizations throughout our Commonwealth to help us bring that message to the people and our politicians.

We are planning to launch the MASS POWER FORWARDCoalition at press events in different locations across the state on Wednesday, September 9th. To that end, I ask if you would be willing to either participate in a launch event in your area or submit a supportive statement for us to include in our press release. Please let me know your thoughts.

Below is the link to the coalition's platform and sign-up form. Should you have any questions or suggestions, please email or call me at your convenience.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1idp8vIj6nzwo6TGJ32qPFUaZXtmk9F_KQC4T9HS7kOw/viewform?usp=send_form

Sincerely and Thanks,

MASS POWER FORWARDFounding Committee: 350MA/Better Future Project, Clean Water Action, Environmental League of Massachusetts, Environment Massachusetts, Massachusetts Climate Action Network, Sierra Club, Toxics Action Center, Appalachian Mountain Club