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Town of Lexington
Sustainable Lexington Committee
Minutes of Meeting of May 31, 2019
A meeting of the Sustainable Lexington Committee (SLC) was held in Room 232 of the
Lexington Community Center. A quorum of six was present.
Members Present: Celis Brisbin, Marcia Gens, Rick Reibstein, Todd Rhodes, Dan Voss,
Charlie Wyman
Members Absent:
Other Attendees: Ricki Pappo (Lexington Global Warming Action Coalition)
Joe Pato (Board of Selectmen)
Mark Sandeen (Board of Selectmen)
The meeting was called to order at 6:07 pm.
A bill, H.853, has been filed in the state legislature that would remove incentives for combustion
of biomass woody fuel and garbage incineration from the Massachusetts Alternative Portfolio
Standard. In addition, the Mass. Department of Energy Resources has issued draft regulations to
amend the Renewable Energy Portfolio Standards to permit greater use of biomass towards
achievement of the standards; the comment period closes on June 7.
The committee reviewed in detail a draft of a letter to the Board of Selectmen, which has been
placed on their agenda for Monday, June 3, asking them to submit comments on the bill and draft
regulations. The committee’s main concern is that any incentive for the harvesting and burning
of woody biomass for energy generation will be counterproductive to the regulations’ intent to
reduce carbon dioxide emissions, as well as damaging to air quality, biodiversity, and ecosystem
health.
A number of points were discussed and amendments made. The final version, approved
unanimously, is attached.
Rick called the committee’s attention to a program on June 26, 7-9, at the Community Center,
when Kirstie Pecci of the Conservation Law Foundation will talk about their Zero Waste Project,
and a BU student studying recycling contamination issues will report his findings.
The meeting was adjourned at 6:55 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Charlie Wyman
1.