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Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito: Massachusetts, SouthCoast working to ‘unleash’ region’s potential

November 17, 2017 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — For about eight hours Thursday, the SouthCoast replaced Boston as the state’s hub for Gov. Charlie Baker’s administration.

Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito led the administration’s cabinet to the region beginning with an 8 a.m. stop at the SouthCoast Chamber of Commerce’s annual meeting in Westport and ending with a ribbon cutting of the new refrigeration system at State Pier in New Bedford.

“This is an area of our state that has tremendous natural assets and has great leadership assets,” Polito said. “Together, state and local, we can work to catalyze private development to unleash even more potential.”

Polito also visited UMass Dartmouth’s School for Marine Science and Technology, where she held a cabinet meeting, cut ribbon at the New Bedford Regional Airport and noted the progress of Noah’s Place Playground on Pope’s Island.

“I come away knowing that this area of the state should be a center for marine sciences,” Polito said. “And I believe that coupled with their manufacturing base, they can create a lot of opportunity right here locally.

So happy, so cold

Coats were required indoors as state Reps. Tony Cabral, Robert Koczera, Chris Markey and Bill Straus joined Polito in the refrigerated section of State Pier, which was filled with pallets of clementines.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

 

New Bedford: the new home of US offshore wind power?

October 24, 2017 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — New Bedford’s Marine Commerce Terminal (MCT), one of the world’s most perfectly tailored offshore wind hubs, is still waiting for its first big break in the sector.

But with developers now preparing to file bids in December for Massachusetts’ first offshore wind tender, worth up to 800MW, the MCT finally looks set to pay off as the race for offshore wind jobs heats up in the US.

As Massachusetts has long known, and other states are quickly realizing, it’s a race in which an early lead could solidify into decades-long benefits.

“New Bedford is very explicit in its goal of becoming the epicentre of the North American offshore wind industry,” says Stephen Pike, chief executive of the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC), the state-funded agency which built the MCT — with $113m of public funds — and operates it.

Read the full story at Recharge