Great. Um, thank you everyone for joining. I will now hand the meeting over to Chair Boatight. Good afternoon everyone. Um, I'm calling this public hearing to order at 4:40 p.m. in accordance with the building emissions reduction and disclosure
ordinance regulations adopted pursuant to the building emissions reduction and disclosure ordinance Boston city code ordinances section 7-2.2. The Berto review board will hold a virtual public hearing at 4:30 p.m. on April 28th today
to review the following topics in regards to the reduction of greenhouse gases from building energy production and consumption so as to promote the public health and welfare of Boston residents. In accordance with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts executive order suspending certain provisions of the open meeting law, we are conducting
this public meeting online to ensure public access to the deliberations of the Berto review board. The public may access this call through telephone and video conferencing. Members of the public will have an opportunity to provide public comment during the public
hearing. To do so, please raise your hand or type in the chat in the application via the Zoom meeting platform. If you're calling in and cannot use the platform, you can raise your hand by pressing star9 or you can send your questions to staff via email
at bertoreviewboard.gov. For the record, I am Jessica Boatright, chair of the board, and I will now conduct a roll call of board members. Board members, please say your name in the order that they appear on the slide. Jessica Boatight, Councelor Gabriella Kleta, and I'm here.
Yeah. Latimore, Jack Nelson. I am sorry. I was having problems with the button. Um, Reginald Stoell. Great. Thank you. Uh, staff will now introduce themselves. Hannah Payne, director of carbon
neutrality in the environment department. Diana Vasquez, Berto review board manager in the environment department. Claudius Martinez, policy and equity advisor, environment department. Ziggy Chin, Berto review board assistant
in the environment department. Thank you. Um, here's the agenda for today's meeting. We're going to start with hearings for um three building portfolios. Uh then we will switch to our public meeting where we will approve the meeting minutes from our previous
meeting April 14th and hear administrative updates and then we will adjourn the meeting. So, our first agenda item um is um a a public um hearing on building portfolios, but I'm going to hand it
back to staff um just to talk a little bit about our the public hearing versus the public meeting sections of of what we're going to do today. Yes. Thank you, chair. Um yeah, very quickly, we've heard that there there was um a request
or some some need for clarification between a public meeting and a public hearing and that totally we totally understand that it is um they're very similar. So just wanted to take a couple minutes today to sort of outline the differences what we mean when we say
public meeting versus what we mean when we say public hearing. So during a public meeting uh the per the Berto team prepares the side deck and we present um on behalf of the applicant's application. Uh we tend to
um you know summarize the application and present that to folks. Um during a public meeting there is no public comment period. Um and then the board may ask you know has a Q&A question where they ask clarifying questions about the application versus uh a public
hearing. The applicant prepares a slide um sends a slide deck and the applicant presents sort of a summary of their application to the board. The chair opens a public comment period. So that's a comment period where anyone from any member of the public can submit a
comment. Uh and then the board can ask, you know, also has a Q&A section, but they can ask more detailed questions about the application. Um it's sort of a more intense I think the public hearing tends to be longer and and a public meeting tends to be shorter, uh etc. the public hearing has more steps. Uh those
kinds of things. So hoping this helps um demystify what we mean by when we say public meeting or public hearing. Uh but also if there are any questions, happy to happy to clarify as well. Um I'll hand it back to you, chair.
Great. Um can I just ask are are there any questions by raise of hand? Great. All right. Uh we are going to move on with um our our public hearing. Um so I will hand the floor
over to representatives from Boston University. And if you could start out by introducing yourself um that would be great. Thank you. Um this is Dennis Carlberg. I'm the chief sustainability officer for Boston University.
Today, we are here to seek the review board's approval of Boston University's building portfolio and ICS applications as presented at our first hearing on March 24th. At that hearing, the review board asked that we not use mass D
emissions factors for our individual compliance schedule and instead use the ISO New England emissions factors given the shorter time frame in which those emission factors are published. So, we have changed um our emissions factors to
ISO New England as requested by the board. I'll now turn it over to Gabrielle Brewer, our sustainability analyst who does our Berto reporting next. Okay, thank you Dennis. Um and Ziggy or Diane, are you able to move to the next
slide? Oh, apologies. We did we did include an update. Sorry. So, yeah, I can chime in really quickly just super quickly. Um, staff and for the board, Gabrielle also has a slide that shows sim the same thing, but just wanted to show the
updates on the ICS. So, BEu did come back uh recalculated the individual compliance schedule using ISO New England historic emissions factors, which is what staff recommended. Um, and just wanted to show that the ICS does have the 50% reduction from baseline and
does have the 100% reduction um, by 2050. And this is the comparison of what the proposed ICS to default emissions looks like. Um, but as I mentioned, Gabrielle also has a slide on this. So now I will switch it over to Gabrielle.
Thank you, Diana. Um, yes, as Dennis mentioned, I'm a sustainability analyst for Boston University. Um, and we have updated our baseline electricity emissions to ISO New England. So, the Charles River campus with a 2006
baseline uses an emissions factor of 350 kg CO2 per megawatt hour. The medical campus with a 2014 baseline uses 292 kg per megawatt hour. And the Fenway campus with a 2019 baseline uses 248 kg per
megawatt hour. Next slide, please. This chart may look familiar. Uh we have updated the version that was shown at our last meeting to reflect the new baseline with ISO New England electricity emissions factors. For those of you seeing this for the first time, this shows BEu's projected emissions and
targets with a baseline metric tons of carbon calculated by applying emissions factors to the total energy consumed during the baseline years. In a business as usual case, projecting our CY23 emissions out to 2050, which you can see
in pink, BU is above target until 2035. Next slide. Okay, that is all we have for our presentation and Dennis and I would be happy to answer any questions you may have regarding these changes to our
application. Thank you. Well, um, we'll move on to comments from environment department staff now. Yep. So, just highlighting again, Boston University originally came before the board uh, and the board requested a recalculated individual compliance
schedule using ISO New England um, emissions factors for the grid instead of mass DP emissions factors. Uh once BU resubmitted their application, uh the staff checked and it looked good and it was complete. Uh and so with that in
mind, the staff recommends approving the combined building portfolio and individual compliance schedule application with standard conditions. Thank you, chair. Thank you. Um I will now ask the board if there are any questions or comments
that they'd like to discuss. Uh before we start, I should note that if we are entertaining special conditions today, we will have to continue this application to a following hearing in order to review and discuss the special conditions of the applicant. Alternatively, we may make requests of
the applicant for items we would like to see in their emission standard compliance plan when it is submitted in two years. As a reminder, requests for the emission standards compliance plan are not considered special conditions.
Um, so, uh, I'm I'm first in the alphabet and I just want to, um, I want to thank Beu for, um, for going back and sharpening your pencils on this. It's it's really helpful and, um, and it um,
it's it's meaningful how quickly you were able to translate things um, into the standards that we requested. Uh my only question is um this translation is really helpful
and I'm curious if it has triggered any changes in your actual work plan or or any of the steps you've been you'll be taking or if it's really just about um the the analysis that you're going to provide to the city of Boston.
Uh sure about right. I think um it's not really changing any anything substantial. It is it is changing how we report um to other third parties that we talked about at our last hearing. Uh so we have to do some updating there. Uh as
we mentioned, we're updating our climate action plan and in that process of updating our climate action plan, we are revisiting our abatement curve uh to use the same base um emissions factors as I is in New England. So there's a lot of
change that's going on in just the general background analysis, but as far as anything substantial with respect to how we think about the changes we need to make, uh I think that will come out of our uh climate action planning
process. Thank you. Um councelor Kleta Zabata, do you have any questions? Um no, just a comment. I I do want to acknowledge and appreciate um Boss University's uh response to the board
and also staff by updating um updating your presentation and and your proposal to align with ISO emission factors. It just it's it's critical for consistency um across this practice and trying to implement Berto just for equitable
treatment of all building owners and maintaining integrity and tracking our citywide decarbonization goals. So, just wanted to comment and say thank you and um I I look forward to supporting this. Thank you.
Thank you. Um board member Latimore. Yes, thank you. I also appreciate um be you updating its um standards and the way the city acts. Also, uh I can't recall if we had asked um for any additional information on the EJ plan,
but as I've read the EJ plan, I I did also appreciate that. Uh so, thank you for that more extensive, if that's the case, um piece. I did wonder um I think I saw somewhere in your HJ plan or somewhere in your documents that um you
were referencing um perhaps doing some of the uh decarbonization work using some federal funding. Just curious about if any if there are any implications um for your for your plan based on what's you know the federal funding scenario.
Well, we don't really know what that federal funding scenario is going to look like. Um, so the way we're thinking about the IRA in particular, um, you know, we certainly have taken advantage of that with the solar that we've installed on campus and we intend to
continue to do that, uh, as long as the IRA is in place. Um, so I as we update the climate action plan, the way I'm looking at it at the moment is we have an upside upside risk um with with the uh
economics improving if we have the IRA in place by the time uh we make those applications. Um so it's that's how we're approaching it. Thank you. No other questions. And we do plan to update our
emission standard compliance plan in 2027 before the final draft is due and that can more accurately represent where we stand. Thank you. Uh board member Nelson. I have no questions.
Second board member Soval. Thank you for complying and helping us be more uniform. We appreciate that. I have no other nothing else to add to it.
Thank you. Uh we will now open the meeting for public comment. Um as a reminder, members of the public um to if you want to provide a comment, please raise your hand or type the comment in chat. Um, and if you are calling in and cannot
use the Zoom platform, you can raise your hand by pressing star9 or you can also send comments to staff via email at bertore reviewboard atboston.gov. Are there any comments from the public? All right. Uh seeing none,
uh we'll we'll move on and I will ask my fellow board members if there's any further discussion or questions or if there's um a motion to approve this application. It could be a motion to approve with standard conditions or a motion to
continue this hearing to discuss potential special conditions with the applicant. Motion to approve with standard conditions. Is there a second? Second. Second. All right. So,
um so I will now ask um on the motion to approve Boston University's application with standard conditions, how do you vote? Um, and board members in favor, opposed, or abstain. I vote in
favor. Councelor Kleta Zapata, how do you vote? In favor. Um, board member Latimore in favor. Board member Nelson in favor.
Board member Stoll in favor. All right, the eyes have it. Uh, the motion passes. Boston University's building portfolio has been approved. Per the regulations, the environment department will send a copy of the written decision letter within 7 days.
Thank you very much for um for coming back and for your thorough reply. Thank you all. Thank you. Hi, chair. It seems we received a message in the chat that there was someone did want to make a public
comment. Um maybe they just it seems like they maybe they maybe weren't able to receive the the video. I don't know. Virginia Marco, is that the
um I I think there are several people from um mothers out front. I don't know whether there's some order um that we were expecting to speak in. Can you mute your mute yours, honey?
Yeah, I did. Um so, uh Okay. Oh, sorry. Sorry. I guess I'm I guess I jumped the gun. I'll talk later. Okay. Oh, okay. All right. Okay. Um, so we are now going to
move on to the building portfolio hearing for Boston Medical Center. So I will hand the floor to representatives from Boston Medical Center if they could introduce themselves. So I should go in the other room. Um, well,
hi. Good afternoon. This is Matthew Keith with Bridge Energy Services and I'm also joined by Corey Pulot and James Kidd from Boston Medical Center. Thank you. Um you're welcome to go into the presentation.
Thank you for the opportunity to meet with you all again. Um if you wouldn't mind just advancing to the second slide. So just as a point of background, um Boston Medical Center was formed uh by a
merger between Boston City Hospital and University Hospital. They're a private nonprofit with a public mission. Uh BMC takes a holistic approach to health care and part of their mission
statement is founded on the belief that health equity and environmental sustainability are intertwined by minimizing harms to the environment. BMC's keeping the patient population healthier. And later in this deck, we
have multiple examples of BMC's community outreach programs that we'd like to share with you today. BMC is the largest safety net hospital in New England. Uh over 70% of their patient population is from underserved
communities, including greater than 70% are minorities, greater than 50% are from low to moderate income houses, and greater than 30% are non-English-speaking. Um you can advance to the next slide, please.
So just a quick overview. Um we can skip this one and move forward. So this is just a brief summary of the buildings that we've included in the application. Uh this spans the main hospital, the Preston family building,
the cross town center, and the old Evans Center. Um it's a mixture 1.4 million square feet uh mixed between healthcare and office space. Uh based on our building
emission standard that we submitted in the application, our target for 2025 is just over 20,000 kg CO2 equivalent per year. Um, we can skip forward through slides
five, six, and seven. We received a handful of questions from Berto board members after our public meeting and thank you for the clarification on that at the top of this meeting. Um, we did provide answers on subsequent slides six and seven, but I
think that we'll just naturally answer these as we go through subsequent slides. Uh if there's anything that you want to come back and revisit, we can uh do so at the end when we're taking questions.
Um it looks like some of the text didn't come through, but I'll I'll fill in the blanks here. Uh, in regard to emissions targets, BMC's emissions are roughly split one-third, one-third, and
one-third between electric emissions, emissions from natural gas usage, and emissions from steam usage. In regard to our prel uh BMC's preliminary electric compliance strategy, they have two assets in place
currently that will offset their electric emissions for the foreseeable future. One of those is a virtual power purchase agreement outside of New England. Uh it was a partnership with MIT and the Summit Farm Solar
Project in Connecticut or uh excuse me in North Carolina. um that produces approximately 26,000 megawatt hours per year. In addition, BMC serves as the anchor subscriber
to four local community solar projects in the eastern part of the United States, which also uh qualify and that equates to about 15,000 megawatt hours per year. On the non-electric compliance
side, uh BMC's partnered with a healthcare sustainability consultant called Oakwell. Um, in regard to electrification, anytime that heating equipment is replaced, uh, they're exploring electrification
options and actually currently there's a project in progress where ground source heat pumps are being installed uh, in their main lobby. In regard to steam emissions, they're in negotiations with vicinity for their e-
steam product and they're also under undergoing a steamline insulation project to um reduce their emissions there. And you can jump forward to the next slide. And just from an overall
perspective, this is how BMC's emissions profile based on the benchmark year of 2023 uh lines up to their proposed building portfolio application standard. Um
although they're over in terms of total emissions currently, the electric emissions through the affformentioned VPPA and community solar projects will be offset pretty significantly out until
uh after 2040. So the primary focus here is going to be on developing strategies to electrify or um reduce non-electric emissions in the future. One of those assets is the CH&P
system which I know we got a question on. Um a little background information there that the CHP is considered critical infrastructure for BMC. It provides
redundant, power, heating, cooling, hot water, chilled water for the main patient care areas of the hospital. And based on other um regulations
that BMC has to follow, having redundant power there is absolutely essential for being able to provide uh patient care. So we had received a question about decarbonization strategies there and BMC
is certainly open to uh evaluating options and if a hydrogen blend were to be available in the future they would absolutely be open to converting but at present that piece of equipment is considered critical for
hospital operations. So, um, Corey, feel free to chime in there and offer any additional thoughts on that topic and you can take it from here. Sure. Hi, Corey Pulyad. I'm the executive director of facility
operations. Um, I'm going to go over a few of our environmental justice uh slides. Uh, during our last session with the board, uh, we cut really short at the end of the meeting, but I know there was a lot of concern about the environmental justice component of
Boston Medical Center and what was put in the application. So as we've updated that we've also included some slides to go handinhand with that. So uh if we can go to the next slide please. So we want to take a look about our organization and how um we look at
our commitment for implementing sustainability across the entire campus. Uh here's just a quick snapshot and in order for time because there are a lot of slides here. I think everyone in the board has a copy of this slide deck. Uh I'm not going to spend a lot of time on each slide, but I'll hit the highlights
of each point. Um all of our leadership here at the medical center all take a certain ownership in sustainability on at the medical center. As you can see from here, the commitment we have in just internal meetings as an
organization. Uh next slide, please. Beyond the outside component, we also have commitments not only in the city but in the state as well as nationally. And here are just a handful of organizations that we meet with whether it be on a monthly, quarterly um time
frame throughout the um calendar year. Next slide please. So when we look at at the environmental justice overview, uh we've been a leader in the healthcare and sustainability and just health environmental justice uh we've embedded climate action into the
core mission of delivering equitable health care to all of our patients. So we look at this as Matt had mentioned in a holistic approach. Um, you know, we look at everything from waste management, food and nutrition, real estate and optimization of our buildings
and our green spaces, environmental um, justice as well as patient well-being, staff engagement, sustainability when we look at procurement. Um, next slide, please. So, I'm not going to read all of these,
but back in 2011, uh there was a strategic master plan where we looked at the entire campus to look at optimizing the campus and the buildings that service the campus. Um that was kind of our campus redevelopment we affectionately call 1.0. We are
currently in our institutional master plan, which is campus redevelopment 2.0, know where we're making changes as um Matt had mentioned earlier. We have a major project going on where we're increasing the number of patient beds, operating rooms, and also streamlining
our entrance ways and main entrances to the building uh and using some new technology in heat pump area to service that area. And then we have a sustainability vision statement um which is important
but the gist of it is you know we are um looking at all the resources we use and we manage and if we do that efficiently and effectively every dollar we save can be sent back to patient care and the patient population that we serve and
that's how we look at it. Next slide please. uh Matt had mentioned earlier here is the uh patient population that we uh support. Uh approximately 70% of our patient
population identify as um people of color under 50 over 50% of our patient population um is just around the federal poverty line as well as approximately 30% of our patient mix uh does not speak
English as their primary language. Next slide, please. We also look at who our staff is. Over 50% of our staff identify as either two or more races, uh, Hispanic, Latino, black, or African, or American
Asian. Uh, we're also 75% female, 25% male breakdown of our staff population. And you can also see the age groups of employees that we have in our department as well. Next slide,
please. Here is just some local, regional, national sustainability pieces for Boston Medical Center that's hit the news. Uh, one of the big articles right there is in March of 2025, Boston Medical Center received its sustainable healthc care certificate from the joint
commission. Um there's also be a later slide we can look at the partnership between Boston Medical Center and TEADA which has had some really amazing things going on with that as well and other articles as well about the work that we're doing. Next
slide please. So uh we talked a little bit about the cogen. I'm not going to go into a lot of details about this uh but again one of the reasons we looked at the cogen was the sustainability as well as the resiliency piece of it. The co-gen plant itself where produces 2
megawatts of electricity and all of the heating need for our impatient units runs approximately 75% efficient on a monthly basis. That is a much higher efficiency rating than we find from any other conventional type uh boiler or chiller type
plant. And this gives us a certain level of resiliency. Um, as long as we keep the gas on, we can provide heat and electricity to our inpatient areas indefinitely. Next slide, please. Uh, we talked about our um,
first of its kind PPA back in 2016 with MIT and Post Office Square. This was our Summit Farms. This is a 60 650 acre solar farm where we purchased um all of our required electricity needs through
um it was a contract that we have many many years left with and we thought it was a very smart decision to make at the time and to lock us in. Next slide please. Here is just some of the different programs that we do to support
our local community and the neighborhoods. Um, if you go to the next slide, there's a little bit of detail. I'm not going to read into each one of these, but you can see for over the many of these programs have been in place for over a decade, supporting many different programs across our community and in our
local neighborhoods as well as the city. Next slide, please. Here's a program that I think has gotten a lot of publicity lately. I think a lot of people are aware of it is our clean power prescription program. This is a program where we have
installed photovoltaic cells on a roof of one of our buildings and instead of us taking the credit that this these uh this plant generates, we actually push this back to our patients. We have realized that there's a energy
insecurity with our patient population mix. a lot of them have a hard time um paying the utility bills, especially if they have medical equipment that they need to operate at home. So, individuals can apply for this program. And basically, it's roughly about a $50 per
month credit applied to their electricity bill based off of the energy that we generate on our roof. Um it's been a very well subscribed program. Uh we did take advantage of IRA funding from the
federal government to push this program forward and uh it has been very wellreceived and we're looking to duplicate this many many more times in the future. Next slide please. Again I talked about a little bit about this program with TEADA. We
have a three-year commitment with them where they're going to work with us and part of that is some financial contributions to expand our clean power prescription program and also to work with us very closely to look at how they as a manufacturer can reduce their waste
packaging waste specifically for the medications and the pharmaceuticals that they produce. uh this is going to be not have just local impacts but astral actually global impact depending on the findings of this program that we're working on them with. Next
slide. Our food pantry. This is one of the programs we have had running since 2001. Uh we provide uh I'm doing the air quotes here. prescriptions to our patient and neighbors um where they can come to the food pantry twice a month
and they can get a week's worth of fresh produce from our food pantry. Um again, this has been in operation since 2001 and we have served over 1.5 million individuals through our pantry. Next slide,
please. Our test kitchen and our teaching kitchen. This is something that's also open to the community as well as our patients. Uh where we can provide them training and services and education on how to cook and use the food that they're getting from the food pantry as well as our rooftop garden
which I'll get to in a minute. Um and learn on classes on how to cook for di diabetics, people managing uh weight loss. Um pediatric nutrition is also a big one as well and we do that for our local community. Next slide please.
our rooftop garden. This has been a big hit. 2017 we um opened our first rooftop garden that produces just over 4,500 lbs of fresh produce every summer, every growing season. We also have u two
beehives that produce fresh honey and the produce that is produced goes to our food pantry as well as used in our own cafeteria. Um 2024 we opened up our second rooftop garden which produces over 6,000 lbs of
fresh vegetables. Um and we're currently working with the city to look at adding a third rooftop garden um to increase uh our growing capabilities. Next slide please. How we're greening our OS. We're
looking here. One of the things that we've done in this past year is we've uh reduced our need on pipe nitrous oxide. We know that's a heavy um uh has a heavy emissions factor to it. So we want to reduce the waste. So we've taken that
out of our program completely and we've gone to tank and cylinder usage. Um we look at the energy efficiency in our OS. We put them into a setback mode in the evenings. Uh we look at our lighting evaluation for our OS. OS OS like
laboratories are very high energy intensive operations and we understand that and we want to be able to find any savings we can as well as use our O space as efficiently as possible. And then we look at the waste the waste that's actually streaming out of the O.
What can be reprocessed? What can be reused? What's disposable and what's not disposable? And we're looking at programs there um where we can reduce actual waste going to landfills, what can be recycled as well as reprocessed. Next slide,
please. And then in 2022, BMC was the one of the original signitories to the White House healthcare climate pledge. Um you know our commitment was to look at scope one and two greenhouse gases and reduce by 50% by 2030 as well as
reach net zero by 2050. We've achieved near-term goals in 2016 following the execution of that summit farms PPA that VPPA sorry and in 2019 BMC had achieved a 50%
reduction in local base scope one and two emissions. I know that was quick. I know that's a lot of information, but I sure you all have the slide deck as well as the written narrative for it. So, um, next slide,
please. So, any questions? Um, thank you. Before I I go to board members for questions, I do just want to ask environment department staff if you have any comments. Yeah, just providing a quick summary. So, originally when BMC submitted their
building portfolio application, uh all the buildings were found to be in compliance with reporting and verification uh and was deemed complete. Then BMC came before the board on March 10th when which is when the board requested a hearing. Um and so this is
now BMC's hearing. Uh, with all of that being said, we reviewed the application and it seems Oh, well, I should mention that the reboard did me did seek for more information regarding BMC's EJ narrative, which is um what BMC is doing
today. Uh, so with all of that in mind, staff recommends approving today's application with standard conditions. Thank you, chair. Thank you. Um, I will now ask the board if there are any questions or comments that they'd like to um discuss. Just a
reminder, um, if we're entertaining special conditions today, we'll have to continue this application to a following hearing in order to review and discuss the special conditions with the applicant. Or we may also make requests of the applicant for items we would like
to see in their mission standard compliance plan when it's submitted in two years. those requests are not considered special conditions. Um, so I I I'll ask the first uh
question. I'm just curious. Um, have you had a chance to review your power purchase agreement with the Berto staff and can you tell us where you are in that process? We haven't yet. Yeah. Um it's the short
answer, but it is um something that we plan to do, right? And it's my understanding that our approval that's a separate matter from our approval of um of this plan that that we can separate those, but it
will be helpful to know if any if anything comes up during that review. Um, also just because you ended with um with your um status as being one of the original signitories to the White
House healthcare climate pledge. Just curious if there if there's anything in your plan that was funded federally that um where you've said, you know, where you've either seen funds move or you're planning for alternative funding right
now. Uh right now we are planning for alternative funding to other programs we have in place. Um you know with the changes that are going on in DC right now um we're not sure what's going to happen like everyone else. So, uh, we're
staying close to our partners over at the Department of Energy as well as Department of Treasury, so we can keep an eye on what's going on with the IRA, what's going to happen with that, and more importantly long term with DOE and what funding and grants and programs are available.
Thank you. Um, Councelor Kleta Zapata, do you have any questions? Thank you so much, Chair. Um, I just want to recognize BMC's leadership in in health and sustainability. Um, you all are really strong in this area. I'm also
cognizant that a lot of BMC's patients are overwhelmingly from marginalized communities and EJ communities. And so I I appreciate the institutions view of health equity and environmental sustainability as as
intertwined. I've personally visited a rooftop farm for food access and the fact that you provide solar credits for low-income patients um is really innovative. So, I just want to thank you for that. So, I'm always trying to bring it back to Burle's goals and climate
inequity and maybe just push gently for more specificity around timelines and EJ impact measurements. Um so, I I and I'm sorry if I missed this in the presentation, um but how are you measuring and reporting
the local health benefits that your decarbonization efforts will deliver to some of these communities. So, we do work internally and there are measurements that are taken. I'd have to get back to our our medical officer for our sustainability team who does track
that information. It would you know the the power prescription program was really her brainchild and really wanted to bring that and I know she is tracking that. There are some metrics that we are using um because we do have to report back there. There there's something
going on with uh DOE. There's an award ceremony coming up at the end of the week and it's recognized and some of that had to take on we had to provide the metrics we were using to show. Um but that can be provided when requested. Okay. Thank you. Um thank you chair.
Thank you. Um, board member Latimore. Yes. Excuse me. Thank you. I think that, um, chair, you and, uh, board member councelor Kleta Zapata did u put some of my, um, you know, appreciation and and,
uh, viewpoints on the table. I do appreciate the more much more extensive EJ plan. as a former patient of BMC as well as uh someone who with great intentionality um chose to have all of her children um
be patients of BMC. I'm aware of the importance of the organization and how they serve the community um and also wanted to see a little bit more about um you know the EJ plan. So very much appreciate the time and the
additional information. I was um also impressed on some things I knew about because I do work with some of the um the staff over at uh BMC, most particularly Dr. Thea James and Dr. Megan Sandal who are very strong
advocates in these areas um environmental justice and housing affordable housing etc. But I did not know and was equal also impressed with the um you know the clean power prescription program and um particularly
you know the transfer of um credits to um EJ household electric bills. Would love to know more about that as that's something that Toddman the agency I run has been trying to achieve. We also have some excess energy but we ran into some
roadblocks. So, if it's someone that's already on this call, Matt or Corey or James, that um I can talk to afterwards, I'd love to do that. That's just an aside. So, I do appreciate that program in particular. Um so, I thank you for that. And I would just say also, I think
you the hospital's doing great work. I would just say also and this is not any special conditions but that um with the emissions compliance plan in two years I'd love to see um a review uh of you know any MBE utilization efforts on the
um decarbonization plan work. So, I don't have any other comments, but thank you. You board member Latimore. Um, board member Nelson, thank you for the presentation. I have
no questions. Thank you. Um, board member Sovel, all I have to say is I'm much better than last time. Much better. Thank you. Um, we will now open the meeting to
public comment. As a reminder to members of the public to provide public comment, you can raise your hand or type in the chat. um in the application that's in the Zoom meeting platform. If you're calling in and so you can't raise your hand, you can press star nine to raise
your hand or send comments to staff via email at bertoreview boardboston.gov. Also, of course, if anyone's having issues where those things um are not working, you can raise your voice and I will um I will do my best to recognize
you. All right. Um, hearing no comments. Just I'll double check the chat. All right. Uh, are there any further discussion or
questions from the board? Um, if not, is there a motion regarding approving this application? It could be a motion to approve with standard conditions or a motion to continue this hearing to discuss potential special conditions with the applicant here.
Sorry if I could raise my hand quickly. Um, I I think I heard from board member Latimore there was a request. So, not a special not a special condition, but perhaps the language could be a motion to approve a standard conditions and a
request for an update on an MWBE policy uh in two years with the Asian standard compliance plan. If that sounds right. Yes. So, moved as spoken by
I was worried I wasn't going to get the language exactly right, so I was going to let Mo. So move with uh a motion to approve with standard conditions with a request to understand um in two years upon submission of the um emissions compliance plan if uh have a review of
the any MBA MB MBE utilization as relates to the decarbonization plan work planned. Second. Right. We have a second. So, on the motion to approve BMC's application
with standard um conditions and a request for an update on the MWBE plan in two years. How do you vote? In favor, opposed or abstain. I vote in favor. Councelor Kleta Zapata in favor.
Uh board member Latimore in favor. Board member Nelson in favor. Board member Stoll in favor. Okay, the eyes have it. So, the motion passes. Um, Boston Medical C Center's
building portfolio has been approved for the regulations. The environment department will send a copy of the written decision letter within 7 days. Thank you for um for your presentation and for your responsiveness to the review board's questions. Thank you all very much.
So, um, thank you. Uh, we will now move on to the public hearing for Mass General Bighgam and I will hand the floor to representatives for Mass General Bighgam. If you could introduce yourselves and start your presentation.
Thank you. I'm Dave Hannichek, VP for real estate at Mass General Brighgam, and I'd like to thank the Berto review board, chair, councelor, and the staff for their assistance in our application. Um, we are here to request approval from the board for the MGB building portfolio
through pathway 2, blended emission standards. I will be joined by Jason Dantona, excuse me, director of engineering. Dennis Noeva, director of utility strategy and procurement. Um, I will give a very
brief uh overview um of uh how we relate to the community. Next, please. Um, a highlight here is uh that MGB is deeply committed to the to caring for its community and we're in a unique position to make a significant impact.
Community benefits, including investments in health centers, community health needs assessments, and to the health safety uh net program have gone from 225 million in 2021 to 350 million in
2024. Uh next, please. and highlight here. The sustainability impact report outlines our understanding that climate change is a public health crisis and outlines our approaches to lower emissions.
uh using more clean energy, reducing waste and increasing recycling, improving resiliency, integrating climate health and sustainability into our missions, research, clinical care, training, and the community
itself. Um I think we can move on at this point to Jason Dantona to give some more detail on the environmental engagement and decarbonization plans. Jason, next please. Uh, thank you. Um, yeah, what I want to
briefly highlight here um is some of our work uh associated with our scope one and scope two emissions reduction. Scope one and scope two emissions are uh by no means um the the totality of our our greenhouse gas emissions, but they make
up um a a large chunk of of our emissions. Um we have um many initiatives moving forward uh through the center of environmental health which is led by clinical teams which is looking at scope 3 emissions. Dennis and
I uh and our team of engineers and architects are working primarily on scope one and two uh missions. Um we have a a long history of being um uh leading on uh emissions reductions. In
fact, we started our strategic energy master plan um is almost 15 years ago to reduce our our net um consumption of of uh all energy including fossil fuels. Um
and that culminated in uh work to uh use waste steam u to heat uh a portion of our our campus. Um we've also u in the last 10 years cited um numerous megawatts of um on-site and off-site
renewable energy projects. Um we we have uh many facilities with uh solar um uh and uh other renewable resources. Um and and and we also have uh many offsite including the atrium wind project um and
a a uh a solar project uh in West Texas. Want to go to the next slide? I'm I'm heavily involved in a decarbonization master plan. Our decarbonization master plan will be f finalized later this year. Um there are three main aspects for our
decarbonization plan. Uh first is energy efficiency. Uh in the last uh 10 years we we've uh we've performed over 150 energy conservation projects throughout the network um including um uh lighting
retrofits, HVAC retrofits, setbacks uh and improvements um in our central plants including heat recovery chillers um and uh modernizing our technology for controls. Um we we are looking now for
electrification and any opportunity. As a matter of fact, the new building, the new Cambridge Street building um will be nearly all electric um and we'll use um state-of-the-art heat recovery systems. And then wherever possible, we're looking to deploy u renewable resources
including solar and other technologies. That's next slide. Dennis [Music] Dennis, where is Dennis? Sorry, the typical mistake. Good afternoon, chairperson. But right,
councelor Kera and rest of the review board and the Berdo team. I'll take it from here. Uh we are um requesting the approval of a building portfolio through pathway 2 uh mainly to two criteria um
of on-site campus district systems um with non-renewable CO2 emitting fuels located in environmental justice populations and also on-site combined heating and power plants located in environmental justice population. Next,
please. Um, we have a slight change from our original application uh a few weeks ago. Uh, and one is to update the square footage uh on our complex for CRP. There are three buildings that are shown there
in the picture, 165, 175, and 185. and uh 165 and 175 have some retail space that we needed to adjust as square footage and report for that space. Uh there was there were no BOD ideas for those spaces before and we're adjusting
for that. Additionally, uh we are also requesting the integration of uh the Sims building. Um it did not have a Berdo ID either. Uh we plan to integrate it into this portfolio.
Uh this is a research building uh in in the same um plaza. Next please. So originally we had uh requested the integration of 30 buildings um with a total of 10.9 million square ft. Um we are adding
about 380,000 square feet uh due to the reasons mentioned before and we're about 1.341 million uh square feet. Uh that's the list of buildings and highlighted in the end is the new building that we adding requesting to add to the
portfolio. Next please. Uh this is a representation of where our uh local presence is. It's majority in three areas is the western areas where Mass General Hospital and Massioneer campuses are. There's also
some presence in the Charleston Navy. Navyyard, a strong research buildings presence there and in the Longwood medical area where uh the main campus for Brian and Woman Hospital is. We also have some few other facilities and
surrounding areas. Next, please. And uh what this shows is uh the end use uh square footage by end use uh original and and the updated one. We also updated the our blended emissions
standards proposed um to meet uh for our Ber um obligations. Uh it's pretty much unchanged from the previous one uh just with a slight difference on years 2025 to 29. Next please.
This is a representation of our buildings when it comes to uh location and environmental justice populations. So the large majority of our presence here, 83% of MGA's building square footage is in EJ neighborhoods.
Uh dividing this by buildings, uh 23 out of 31 buildings are in EJ populations. However, um four of these buildings as defined by Berdo and actually two large campuses
account for 57% of that that area. Next, please. Uh we are also listing here uh our district system suppliers. Uh the first table uh is is a list of buildings
supplied by MAUP. uh they they are some of them are supplied with or or all of them are supplied by either electricity, steam and chill water. The second table below is facilities that are supplied by vicinity and they only supply steam for
our facilities there providing great resiliency both and vicinity. And lastly uh we list in our combined heat and power plants. Um one of them uh which is a bron and
woman hospital chapiro um cardiovascular center in hail building. Uh the large the the we have a CHP with a capacity of 4 megawatts and this one is in an AG neighborhood. The other two are Faulner
Hospital and and Spalding Hospital in Charlestown. Uh, next please. I think that's probably the last one. Yeah, that's it. Thank you. And we'll welcome your comments and questions. You I will now turn it over to environment department staff for
comments. Thank you, chair. So, when uh mastering initially submitted their application, we worked with them to ensure that we had the correct uh GFA. Um, and we updated some information, but
after that revision, we found the application to be complete. Uh, MGB appeared before the review board on January 13th. Uh, and a hearing was requested because the board members wanted more information regarding uh MGB's community engagement. Since uh
since then, as as Dennis uh mentioned, uh MGB identified two two new buildings that needed a Burto ID or a shift in GFA. those changes have been have been complete. Uh and so that just makes the total number of buildings in this building portfolio go from 30 to 31 or
sorry number of Berto IDs from 30 to 31. Um and we recommend approving with standard conditions. Thank you chair. Thank you. Um I will now ask the board if there are any questions or comments that they'd like to discuss.
Um before before we start um I I'll note again that if we're entertaining special conditions, we'll have to continue this application to a following hearing in order to review and discuss the special conditions. We may also make requests of
the applicant for items we would like to see in their emission standard compliance plan when it is submitted in two years. Um, as a reminder, if we make requests that have to do with the emission standards compliance plan, those are not considered special conditions.
Um so I I will start and I I just wanted to understand um when it when it comes to um community engagement and um does do do you have one uniform strategy for the whole portfolio or is
it is it somewhat localized based on the location of the buildings? could best answer that. So I will say it's localized probably by campus as opposed to one uniform. We have we are in different
areas. We have different sets of issues. Okay, that's that's helpful. Thank you. Um, board member Kleta Zapata or sorry, councelor councelor Kleta Zapata. No worries, Jessica. Um, chairwoman, excuse
me. I want to thank um MGB for their presentation and just your continued work always to provide high quality care for our residents, including my mother during COVID. So, just thank you. Um, I also want to thank and acknowledge I the many members of CIR who are on this call
from what I can see based on the attendance list. And so I think I'll just opine for a second. So as we consider this application, I think it's important to just broadly recognize that environmental justice and the labor
movement are deeply connected. At its core, Berto is about correcting long-standing inequities and ensuring that those most burdened by pollution and climate risks finally see real
benefits from decarbonization efforts. And so it's it's not enough to reduce emissions if the people who sustain these institutions, the resident physicians, the interns, the workers are themselves
struggling to survive in the city they serve. And so yeah, just want to say environmental justice means investing in healthier communities. Labor justice means investing in the people who keep those communities alive. That's what true sustainability is. So, feel free to
comment or not comment on that statement. That's fine. I think we'll hear more in the public testimony portion, but for now, I'll reserve my my one question. Um, and full transparency, I represent Charles Town. Um, but since a large majority of your buildings are
located in EJ neighborhoods, how is MGB prioritizing early investments and emission reductions in those communities? Thank you. I can take this one. Uh I guess and Jason, you can u support if if needed.
But um we we are still uh working to finalize our decarbonization master plan um hopefully by the quarter of of of uh uh this year. um and we don't have um you know the details. This is going to
be first the the largest master plan and then we go into the specific uh plans for each institution. Um as highlighted in the slides uh the large majority of our square footage isn't EJ populations. So
pretty much especially uh my general hospital masanir and brigham and um pretty much anything we do will affect um those communities. So that's what I
can um find right now. Is there any um do you do you have I I guess drilling into the chair's question based on those disproportionately impacted the most is there a plan in place to go out to those communities first like how are you tiering them? How
are you prioritizing them? How are we prioritizing them? So the the two largest campuses that we have I mean Mass General and Brian and women hospital are on EJ populations. That's where the majority of the work is going to go. And uh
so uh at this point I don't have any more details on the decarbonization plan and priorit prioritization but pretty much anything that we do is going to positively affect the EJ populations around those large hospitals.
And I one last thing is just that I will call out the fact that the Charlestown campus directly abuts the largest public housing development in New England at Bunker Hill. And just to um consider that uh as you're doing your community
outreach and um your prioritization of emissions reductions in in these in these types of neighborhoods. So thank you chair. and and we can we can look at it from the perspective of prioritization and get back to you on that.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, councelor. Um board member Latimore, thank you. I appreciate everything that council Kleta um Zapata said and echo her her comments. So, thank you um
counselor. Um you know, I don't really have any questions. I just have a request um for any um that uh the emission standard compliance plan in two years include a review of MWBE
utilization on decarbonization plan work. No other comments or questions. Thank you board member Latimore. Board member Nelson. I have no questions. Thank you. Thank you. Board member Stoll.
I'm in 100% agreement with board member Latimore. I think we should revisit in two years. Okay. Thank you. Um I um I will now do any board members
have any further questions? All right. Um so we will now open the meeting to public comment um as um as we talked about earlier in the meeting. Um so here's our public comment period. As a reminder to members
of the public, please raise your hand or type in the chat. Um you if you're calling in and you cannot use the platform, you can raise your hand by um by pressing star9 or send your comments to staff via
email at bertore reviewboard.gov. Um I am going to uh I'm going to call on a number of people that I have seen. Um, and so just so that that people um know that you are recognized, I'm
going to start with um let me just could I just make one like Zoom note that if folks are unfamiliar with Zoom, the way that you raise your hand is clicking the react button and then it's like a heart and then you'll get have an option to raise hand. And I think for process
since there are a lot of public comments if folks could try to raise their hand if that's not working you can put in the chat that works. Okay. Thank you. Um all right and yeah it is totally fine to use the chat if if
it's um if your buttons not working. So um I am going to go in this order as it is what's showing up on my screen. Um Andy Kraner, Sandra Huckleberry, Leanne
Kanty, Elizabeth Tanton, Abby Ramanon, um Barrett Nice, Marico Peterson, James
Sullivan, Dr. Taylor Walker, Lynn Johnson, Alis, uh and um let's see. Okay, that looks like those are the hands that I have right now. So, um, so Andy Kraner, we can start with you.
Hi. Uh, thank you board members, City of Boston staff and NGB staff for the opportunity to comment. My name is Andy Kraner and I'm a volunteer with Mothers Outfront. I'm a mother of two children and I live in Jamaica Plane. I'm within a mile and a half radius of the
polluting Mateep Peaker plant in Longwood Medical Center and professionally my work focuses on air quality and climate policy. Uh the Berto policy was actually designed to improve air quality and reduce climate pollution
and I'm concerned about the Metap plant that powers Longwood Medical Center including Bigham and Women's Hospital. It mit it emits a lot of pollution including NOx and particulate matter and in the presence of sunlight the NOx that
is emitted from this plant can chemically react with volatile organic compounds and contribute to high levels of ground level ozone concentrations. Particulate matter, ozone and nitrogen oxides all increase the risk of asthma in our children. They
cause worse asthma symptoms and they increase respiratory symptoms and make lungs more susceptible to infection. And this is particularly worrisome in Boston where one in three of our school age children has an asthma
diagnosis. So air pollution is largely invisible. Uh but clean air is vitally important to our children um to be healthy and to thrive in school. uh Boston College actually evaluated the health impacts of air pollution in
Boston residents and found that air pollution in Boston is responsible for over 1,800 new pediatric asthma cases and they estimated that over 200,000 performance IQ points were lost because of air pollution. My family has directly
benefited from the care and research done at Longwood Medical uh institutions and I am very thankful for all of them. But the same hospitals that are offering us care are relying on dirty energy that pollutes our air and makes our kids
sick. So I think it's time for Longwood Medical Hospitals um to put pressure on their energy provider MATE to follow the lead of their other energy provider vicinity and move to cleaner energy. It's really important for our kids'
health and success in school and we think that there should be some provision on MATP uh moving to clean energy. Thank you for your time and consideration. Thank you. Thank you very much. Uh we
will move on to Sandra Huckleberry. Hi, I'm Sandy Huckleberry and uh my husband and I will both be um giving some um feedback here. Um I also live within a mile and a half I think actually within a mile of the U Mate
Peaker plant. Um and the air quality falls at the 98th percentile rank for nitrogen dioxide and at the 89th percentile rank for diesel particulate matter as compared with the whole country. Um 48% of the residents here
are people of color. 35% of the re residents are lowincome. um 8% did not in um complete a high school education. Uh the majority of the neighborhoods surrounding MATP are environmental justice neighborhoods. Um the people who obviously because of that the people who
live in these neighborhoods already face a disproportionate burden uh of environmental hazards and MATE is a clear example of this. Um given the known negative health impacts of MATE's emissions um on nearby communities, I want to know what we are doing to keep
our residents safe. Um um I think that you know no one should have to breathe dirty air to um to keep the costs down for a hospital or or an energy company. Um um so I would like to
know um how we are regulating the particular the particulate matter that's emitted. Um I also want to know who is keeping track of the increased particulate matter and its health implications. um also how you're going about and who
is educating the community about the risk they are taking by living near the peaker plant. Um and especially given that the buildings we are discussing are in the business of keeping people healthy which I also benefit from because I use them and I'm um very grateful that they're
there. Um, but I was thinking that the um the hospital part of the MGH's uh responsibility should be to at least inform residents that are living within the mile and mile and a half um area within this and and suffering from
asthma and other things um about the risk of living nearby and what health issues they should monitor for themselves. So, um, and I'm also gonna turn this over to my husband who, um, is also going to say something at this time. Hi. Um, my name is Jeff
Huckleberry and I I live within a mile of the Mate Peaker plant and I have for almost 35 years now. Um, I have asthma which has led to a difficulty um, some difficulties um, especially um, riding my bike um, back and forth to work and
it's my preferred transportation. So um the MAP per plant's emissions have been shown to get deep into the lungs um which exacerbates my asthma. Um I want to know what measures are being taken to reduce the health impacts of Matex picker plants. Thank you. Thanks very
much. Thank you. Um we will move on to Lean Ky and I also will add Jenny Marco to the um to the speakers list to the end of it. So, um, Leanne, if you want to go now, that would be great. Thank you. My name is Leanne Kanty. I am a resident of
Jamaica Plane and a practicing internal medicine physician. I am also a volunteer with Mothers Outfront. I would like to thank the board for the opportunity to speak here today. I am here to urge the board to ensure that Boston hospitals, particularly MGB,
comply fully with their Berto requirements. It is well known and has been mentioned today that we're facing a climate emergency. Rising temperatures have many well-known health effects from bothersome to lifethreatening. Perhaps you've recently
developed or noted that your seasonal allergies seem worse than they've ever been. You can thank climate change. In addition to worsening allergies, asthma severity and incidence is on the rise. Warmer temperatures have also been
clearly linked with increases in mortality due to other respiratory illnesses such as COPD to cardiovascular disease and kidney disease. All of which in we know also impact EJ communities
more severely and earlier than other communities. Rising temperatures are also causing infectious diseases to spread. Infections spread by insects including lime, denge, malaria, and more are now spreading to previously
unaffected geographic rate regions. For example, Lyme disease is now being diagnosed in Canada and the Arctic where it was previously unknown. In my own practice, I'm now diagnosing tickborne illnesses year round as opposed to just seasonally.
Heat waves are becoming more frequent, severe, and long lasting throughout the US, including in Boston. Not surprisingly, heat exhaustion and heat stroke are becoming more frequent, and the number of deaths due to heat illness
are climbing. Unfortunately, death incidents and deaths from heat illness are also increased in EJ communities such as where the majority of the MGB campus is.
Interpersonal violence rates increase with increasing temperature and it has been documented that a warming climate is associated with increased incidents of assault, sex crimes and murders. In addition, rising temperatures are linked to worsened mental health with anxiety
and depression becoming more severe and a documented increased risk of suicide as temperatures rise. Our hospitals provide world-class medical care and I am so grateful for that and for the career opportunities they provide.
We must also insist that our hospitals promote health for our entire community by curbing their dangerous carbon emissions and that MATP, the power plant that powers our largest hospital, initiate significant decarbonization. We
hope that MATP would start with decommissioning their peaker plant. Thank you very much for this opportunity to provide comment today. Thank you very much. I will move to Elizabeth Tampton.
Thank you very much and thank you for the opportunity to make a comment. U my name is Elizabeth Tampton. I'm the mother of two young children ages five and six. Um and I want to express my concern about raising my children in close proximity to the makeup mate
peaker plant which provides energy to MGB. Um I think it's of note that MGB is among the highest emitters of carbon in the whole city. Uh and I want to express my concern for others who may not be aware of the health risk that they are exposed to by living in this area of the city. When I was pregnant with my first
uh child, I lived 1.7 miles away from the Mat Peaker plant. I currently live a similar distance from it. I was fortunate to have an uncomplicated pregnancy and delivery um but did not know that my address made me more susceptible to giving birth prematurely.
Um, so living close in close proximity to the MatePer plant introduces a host of health risks to developing children. This is especially true for those living in a 1.5 mile radius. But particulates can travel and this is often exacerbated by weather conditions like wind. Fine
particulate matter released by the Metep Peaker plant can lead to asthma, stroke, and an increased risk of diabetes. I want our community to be able I want our community to be able to raise children in an environment with clean air that will not harm them. I am asking that we decommission the peaker plant which uses
diesel fuel. I am also asking that the m that mate take steps to improve the efficiency of energy that is produced for MGB. Ultimately I believe this requires moving away from fossil fuels. I understand that this comes at a cost for the hospital but I want to underscore the hospital's mission. uh
Mass General Brigham and I quote, "Mass General Brighgam is committed to serving the community. We are dedicated to enhancing patient care, teaching and research, and taking a leadership role as integrated healthcare system. And I think that MGB does a great job in many ways doing that. But I think that if MGB
is truly serving the community and serving as a leader as an integrated health system, they have an obligation to invest in cleaner energy sources that do not harm their staff, patients, and community. For the sake of the children and the neighborhood, MGB must invest in clean energy because our kids deserve to
breathe cleaner air. Thank you. Thank you very much. Um, moving on to Abby Ramadan. Hello, my name is Abby Raman. I am a project director with Clean Energy Group. We're a national nonprofit and
through our phase out peakers initiative, CEG has been working to accelerate the retirement of fossil fuel peaker plants and the replacement with clean energy and energy storage alternatives including in Massachusetts. And I'd like to speak specifically to the feasibility of decarbonizing the
medical area total energy plant. Um, I strongly encourage the board to consider imposing a special condition on MGB requiring that they explore at minimum decizing the diesel peaking units at MATEP in collaboration with the Longwood Medical Energy Collaborative. Um, based on our analysis of the most recent
generation data on MATE available from the Energy Information Administration, the diesel peaking units at MATE are collectively operating for less than 50 hours per year, some significantly less than that. These units are particularly harmful because unlike a base load plant which operates continuously, peers start
up and shut down often, most emissions control technologies do not operate during those periods because uh the plants need to come up to temperature for them to be effective. Meaning that air pollutant emissions such as nitrogen oxides are unabated during startup and shutdown as well as any testing the
plant has to do um as part of these units remaining online. The short duration these plants are required to operate makes them uniquely suited for replacement with battery storage. And this would have an outsiz impact on air pollution levels in the surrounding community. Based on the low utilization
of these diesel peaking units, it'd be very feasible in the short term to either replace the existing capacity being provided by the diesel units with 4-hour battery storage units or just to retire the units without replacing the capacity at all. Doing so would remove a significant source of air pollution to
the surrounding community. and CG is happy to answer any questions or provide additional information on the feasibility of replacing or retiring those units. And thank you so much for your time. Thank you for your um for your comment. Um Dr. Garrett Nes is
next. It looks like you unmuted your device, but we still are unable to hear you. Sorry, Dr. Garrett N, if you're speaking. We can't hear your audio. I'm not sure if he can hear us. Uh I can
send chair I can send him a a message directly um if you want to continue chat but um I think maybe Diana if you can also try messaging him. Yeah, I'll message him. Okay, that would be
great. And um we will move on to Dr. Marico Peterson and I just want to note that I am also adding Marian Nelson to the end of the speaker list. Hello. Can everybody hear me? Perfect. Okay. So, my name is Dr. Monica
Peterson and first I'd like to thank all of you for having us here today for the presentations that were delivered today. Um, I'm a currently a third-year resident um in pathology at Brighamin Women's Hospital, so on the Longwood campus. And you might be wondering why
are doctors fighting for a fair contract um testifying here today. As some of you may know, I'm a member of CIR. Uh we are trying to fight for a fair contract um with uh MGB currently. And we'd like
to kind of dovetail with some of the comments that were made earlier in that labor justice is not just about fighting for fair wages, worker protection. It's also about fighting for worker protections and economic justice as well as uh racial and gender equity and the fight for human rights.
And at the center of all of these rights is a goal of achieving fairness, equity, and dignity for everybody. And so therefore, at the base of all of this, labor justice is also um the fight for climate justice. We know how much MGB exploits its workers. One of the ways in which it
does that is that it has closed many primary care offices throughout uh the community. This obviously affects the community and that they're not able to access the backbone of medicine um through their primary care offices. As many of you have experienced, the wait
times are crazy um and they just don't have the support either the staffing support uh for administrative workers, nursing, etc. But that also comes with not providing primary care uh for resident physicians
as well. In fact, as a patch, MGB have suggested that we go to One Health, which is Amazon's um primary care alternative. And as many of you know, Amazon is another very large poller in terms of releasing many tons of plastic into the environment as well as
transportation pollution. We also know that from much of the testimony here today already that MGB is a very large in fact uh the biggest poller in the city of Boston. So at the bargaining table uh we won't let executives offer penny us
pennies because we know our worth and we know that when we have the support we need at work our patient care thrives. This is obviously true with the primary care that they provide, the access to good, clean environments, as well as um
the access to housing and good healthy environments. So, I'm here today because I'm calling on you to not let MGB get away with skirting environmental regulations that are set in place uh to protect um our Boston. Um so we ask that
the Berto board uh deny the building portfolio application um from Power Options on behalf of MGB in light of their continued public health harms against the environment, patients and the surrounding communities and workers at MGB. MGB is actively negotiating a contract with our union. As I mentioned
before, we ask that Berto not grant any leniency at a minimum until MGB takes care of its workers and settles our contract. Additionally, as we've heard before, there really are only concepts of a plan. And as we've also heard before, these are very real consequences
for members of our community, including exacerbation of asthma, um issues with premature deliveries, etc., etc. And so, we can't really afford to sit on, you know, not having a clear plan, uh, which
is essentially what MGB have proposed. Thank you. Thank you. Um, thank you very much. Uh, we will move on to Dr. James Sullivan. Can everybody hear me? Yes. Beautiful. All right. Uh, good afternoon everyone.
My name is Dr. James Sullivan. I'm a resident physician as well and a member of CIR. I'm in the internal medicine department at Burman Women's Hospital. When you have an emergency at home, you call the paramedics. When you have a rodent that you need removed, you call inspectional services. But who do you
call when the city's largest health care system, the system that's responsible for offering quality care to the people of our community, is also the city's largest poller? What do you do when that system is responsible for the continued degradation, as we've heard, of our community's environment and health? What do you do? What I'm doing is speaking up
and asking for help. Managing a polluted environment is a conundrum. It's a tragedy of the commons, as the common metaphor goes, where it's hard to draw firm lines in the sand because each of the harms of delays are diffuse and they're deferred. But these harms and needs are critical, as we've heard from
many other community members today. The WH, the World Health Organization, calls the climate crisis the biggest public health emergency of the 21st century. Granting MGB leniency here harms human health. It harms our community. It harms our kids. It disproportionately harms marginalized and minority populations
already under so many public health threats because of inadequate policies, systematic failures. Air pollution is estimated to be responsible for 15% of deaths worldwide. Let's stop that in Boston. Let's not let MGB continue to commit
continued environmental justice harms without any clear plan to actually prioritize these vulnerable communities. I grew up outside of Boston in the Actton, Massachusetts EPA super fund site from Grace Chemical in the late 20th century, but the connection between the environment and health is particularly close to my heart. I lived
in Boston before medical school and moved back for residency at MGB and hoped to practice medicine here for my entire life. Part of my motivation to be a doctor in the first place stems from the environmental travesties of the impact of human health such as the leukemia clust childhood leukemia cluster in Wuburn, Massachusetts right
in our backyard popularized by civil action many years ago and of course the ongoing climate crisis. I studied the impact of the environment on human health. I published scientific articles on the topic and taught a range of health professionals about this infection in my career so far. And I'm
incredibly proud to work in Boston as a doctor because I know that there are community members, government officials, and systems in place to stop that tragedy, the commons, and protect all of human health, including prioritizing a health and a healthy and safe environment. I don't think MGB's plan
here is adequate, and they can do better. I humbly ask the Berto board to deny the building portfolio application from Power Options on behalf of MGB in light of their continued public health harms against the environment patients in these communities and the workers of MGB. MGB is actively negotiating a
contract with our union and we ask that BTO not grant any leniency at a minimum until MGB takes care of its workers and settles our contract. Please don't push this back two years. This can't wait. Thank you very much. Thank you for your comment. Um, Dr.
Taylor Walker. Hi. Can everyone hear me? Yes. Excellent. Um, good evening everyone. My name is Dr. Taylor Walker. I am the national president of CI SEIU. We are the nation's largest physicians union representing over 40,000 residents
and fellows um across the country. So, first off, I want to thank the members of the Berto board um for holding this hearing um and standing up for environmental justice for the people of Boston. While I am not a native Bostononian, I have spent most of my adult life in Boston from undergrad at
BEu to working for the Boston Bruins during their Stanley Cup winning season, then onto residency and working as an attending at Cambridge Health Alliance. I also served as C's regional vice president for New England. Um, and I now consider Boston my home. Um I'm very very proud to see uh my city councelor
from Charlestown here on this call um this evening and to and to hear her speak um on the intersection between labor justice, workers justice, and environmental justice because they are of course one and the same. Resident physicians who work at MGB and are members of CEIU are here
today because like you um on the Berto board, we believe that it's important to stand up for what is right and what is just not just for ourselves but for our communities. As I mentioned, we know that uh the fight for workers rights and workers justice is the um the same as the fight for environmental justice.
These things are inextricably linked. Um fighting for justice means taking back what belongs to the people and to the community. Specifically, a quality health care system that prioritizes public health and wellness and access to a safe environment with breathable air over corporate profits and the bottom
line. So it means holding people and primarily institutions, institutions like MGB accountable when they don't have the best interests of Bostononians at heart. MGB is the largest employer in the state of Massachusetts and the large has the largest negative environmental
impact of any institution in the city. So, like you, we're fighting back against MGB's executives's profit-driven business model that allows their CEO to take in over $6 million a year in salary. While resident physicians
working over 80 hours a week are struggling to pay their bills, right? Some are even having to sell their plasma to make rent. I had to take out a personal loan to make rent in Boston. We are demanding dignity and respect for all of the people in Boston um and all of our workers at the bargaining table.
So at this hearing and in the state capital because what the MGB executives are doing is not right. We ask you to to we ask that you continue to stand up for environmental justice and for workers justice. I'd like to reiterate that we at CI are asking the BA board to deny
the building portfolio application from power options submitted on behalf of MGB in light of their continued um public health harms uh both against the env environment and against patients in the surrounding communities and especially the workers at MGB. MGB is actively
negotiating our contract as you've heard several people um speak to this evening. We ask that Berto not grant any any leniency um until MGB takes care of its workers and settles a fair contract with our residents and fellows. Thank you so much.
Thank you very much. Um Lynn Johnson. Hi. Um my name is Lynn Johnson and I live in Brooklyn Village um just 3/4 of a mile from the Peaker plant. Um, I've watched uh emissions coming out of that plant for many years and wondered what
the impact uh that it might have on on my family's health and the the health of other families in especially those in environmental justice communities. What I've learned about the high levels of particulate matter coming from the plant
have been really upsetting. um moving toward clean and renewable sources of power would make a big difference in improving public health, but also in meeting um Massachusetts climate goals, something I've been
working on as a volunteer for Mothers Outfront in Brooklyn. I've gotten excellent health care um from the Bighgam over the years and I consider myself lucky uh to live nearby. But the irony of the plant's uh damaging role to
our climate and and health is deeply disappointing and needs to change uh sooner rather than later. Thank you. You for your comment. Um, Jenny Marco. Hi, this is Lean Kity and uh Jenny
um unfortunately had to go and is not able to comment but she would like to submit it um electronically via email. Okay, great. That would be great. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mary. Oh, sorry, Chair. I'll just
make a note. I'll share the email in the chat. Thank you. Thank you, Maryanne Nelson. Right. It looks like Maryannne Nelson may not be on anymore. So um if any she is if anyone works with her
knows her she's welcome to also submit via email and um we will uh try Dr. Nie again I'm I'm hopeful that your audio Oh my my mic wouldn't turn on. I'm
sorry. Okay. I didn't know I was supposed to measure the distance from my house to the to the plant. I'm sure I could walk down there in about 15 minutes from Mission Hill. Um I think uh the Berto board should deny uh Mass
General Brighgam's um application. Uh, I think National Bighgam, which prides itself as being one of the best hospitals in the world, should step up
uh figure out how to stop emitting um pollution so much, improve its energy uh efficiency. I'm sure that they could they could just go talk over to a couple of people over at MIT and they can set up some batteries in their basement to
store the off peak energy. that's produced for peak need. Um, currently on Mission Hill, we have to suffer all the ultra fine particullet that come from everyone commuting to and from the
um to Brigham and Women's and the other hospitals. And I had totally forgotten about the fine particullet until I heard about this issue coming up today. and clearly um presents definite health
issues as other people have said uh we don't have health statistics for Mission Hill specifically anecdotally I know of a couple of people who died of asthma related uh issues in their homes not far from the power plant I'm sure it's
wouldn't be surprised if it were related um I think uh Brigham Women's needs to shut up step up do the right thing, reduce the emissions. Um, I think it it it it and
it won't do it until it's forced. It's very good at letting things minor what things that are not um as important to them as other things, meaning the management slide uh delay um get the
easy way around and uh we shouldn't let them to continue to do that. they should live up to their responsibility and address the pollution coming out of their plant. The peaker and the peaker plant should be closed first and they should work towards um moving towards
green energy and um closing the plant down entirely. Thank you. Thank you. Um Dr. Nice, we can we can try again for your comment. Thank you. Is that working? Yes.
Fantastic. Um, good evening everybody. Um, thank you for your patience. My name is Dr. Garrett Canazy, uh, regional vice president with CIR. Um, I'm a physician and a public health practitioner. Um, I decided to become a doctor and a public health advocate
because I intend to serve the well-being of my communities locally and globally at both the individual and population levels. And it's vital that these regulatory structures and environmental systems that determine the viability of our
public health efforts truly and authentically promote the health and well-being of our patients and our neighborhoods. This is the core of the work that I and my colleagues on this call do every day. The lasting effects of a health care
system that prioritizes profits over patients and the health of their communities are evident in cities across the nation, including Boston. MGB continues to show us that they are pri prioritizing their profits above all else.
I originally come from Texas where very poor environmental regulation and accountability of industries both in and out of the health sector has resulted in significant measure measurable and lasting negative health impacts.
Health disparities then persist across these various social determinants affected with issues like unsafe housing due to locality, environmental injustice feeding into that and inequitable access to care highlighting all of the problems
that these inequities and disparities create. And it's this industry exceptionalism in healthcare that is contributing further to these unethical environmental injustices. And that is what MGB is seeking in this case. It is at least ironic and
egregiously unethical at worst that this notfor-profit healthcare organization with billions in financial reserves continues to attempt to minimize its investment in the welfare of its surrounding neighborhoods in the face of
our mounting climate crisis. While their CEO gives themselves 40% raises in recent years and continues to work against providing livable wages for its resident and fellow physicians within its profit driven
model. Truly um we are petitioning this board not out of concern for ourselves but out of concern for its holistic impact on this community and a consistent interest in their own bottom line being quite
problematic. We think that it's time to hold MGB accountable and ensure that our communities and our workers are safe from this type of corporate greed and that we deny their application today and not two years from now. Thank you
all. You um I believe that that is the um that we've received all the public comments. Um, I do want to do a time check um
for board members. Um, are board members able to stay an additional 15 minutes to continue to finish discussion on this agenda item? Yes.
Okay. Board member Nelson, it looks like a yes. Uh, board member. Yes. Okay. All right. Um, thank you for that. So, um,
we will, um, we will adjourn at at 6:45 so that we have a little more time for discussion. Um, are there any further discussion or questions on this application?
I just have one question for staff. Thank you, chair. Um, I I think it would be useful. I mean, I I do want to say that I deeply respect and understand the urgency of CIR's concerns and the importance of
winning fair wages and conditions for resident physicians. Um, I would like the staff to just talk about the this board and our authority and our role.
um just because I we are narrowly focused on determining whether building owners like MGB have submitted building portfolio and compliance plans that meet specific technical requirements. So, um, I like it, if we were to deny an
application based on labor disputes, does anybody have an answer of like if that could open the city or the board to legal challenges for acting outside the scope? Yeah, I'm happy to answer that. So, thank you for the question, Councelor
Kleta Zapata. Um, so there are a few things I think that are helpful to clarify for the board and for um all of the um folks on the call who made public comments or otherwise listening as well. Um so the way that the regulations are
set up is for um the applicants to come forward with their their um portfolio applications. Um and then if they do have those environmental justice criteria like um MGB has um then the
requirement is to come back with a emissions compliance plan within 2 years um that provides more detail on how they will um achieve um kind of what what their strategy is across their portfolio for their emissions reductions. Um and
so um it's not a delaying of the action. The limits are you know as with all of the other portfolios um it's just allowing that compliance at the portfolio level rather than a building by building level but still has to maintain that um overall emissions
reduction and step down to net zero emissions by 2050 like all of the other um buildings subject to Berto. Um the other piece I do want to flag for the board is that um any decisions around special conditions per the regulations
um need to be based on eligibility criteria which um MGB has met all of the eligibility criteria and then consideration of potential impacts on a benefits to um environmental justice populations. Um and we did we have also provided the board kind of guidance on
that and and our recommendation is to make that as kind of closely tied to the distribution of benefits across the portfolio as possible so that there is that kind of link. I would say that, you know, I think there is there were these these topics are related, but
um the issue at hand tonight really is about um the whether MGB um is is Warren said their application is complete and and provides enough information for the board to determine if if they should have an approved
portfolio for Berto. Um and then similarly I think the point um I want to make around precedent um is important too. Um so as the board is making decisions um you know the board is setting precedent for future board
decisions as well. Um and other the board has approved similar um uh hospital portfolios that are connected to MATE for example or have um CHP systems too. So I just want to also
put that context um in in place as well. But happy to answer any other questions on that. And then just one other this is not directly answering your question but just cuz I can anticipate this next question which is um I know there are a lot of comments tonight around MATP um
and the regulation of MATP. And just if I may make a point to those on the call, um the department of um environmental protection at the state level regulates the emissions from the MATAP plant and the air pollution from that plant. Um and then separately, MATAP is a separate
entity. So MGB does not own MATAP and so we can't um the board can't assign any conditions that are directly um saying uh specific requirements for MAP since that is a separate entity that um
contracts with MGB and and several other hospitals in the Longwood medical area. So just wanted to make that point of clarification as well. Thank you. Uh, counselor, did you have additional questions or clarification? Um, thank you. I one last question. Um,
in order for this to pass, I I should know this. Does it need to be unanimous? Diana, no. Um, no. It needs a majority vote. Okay. Thank you. All right. Um, are there any further discussion or questions from the
board? All right. I can I I do have a question about the MATEP plan. Um, I understand that it's not owned by MGB, but um is there either a a long-term
um inversion strategy being considered by the ownership of MAT andor does MGB have any plans to sort of to move further and
further off of any traditional sources that are being used at MATP sort of what's that relationship in terms of looking future in terms of the future of MATP and the relationship of MGB and
MAT. Um so as Hannah noted Bighgam as well as several other hospitals are under long-term contract through 201 with MATE. We are committed to meeting Berto standards and
continue to explore options to do that. But I think I'll leave it there. And and I will just also note that um like Berto staff, we have been in touch with um MAP and have had
several conversations with with MATP um about their decarbonization strategies and and could provide more information on that um and then also with with the hospitals and kind of strategizing on on that. So it's a it's a complex issue
that um we're we're aware of and and working on. you know, I certainly appreciate the community concerns and um you know, am also concerned. Um as I'm interpreting what you're
saying, Hannah, it sounds like other than abstaining from a vote, we're compelled to approve this, if if I'm not mistaken. Um, so the board could consider
um special conditions, but that would need to we would need to continue the conversation and know kind of what special conditions you would want to entertain and how they're related to the application before you. Um, so I think if there's if there are further
questions of MGB um or special conditions, what we can't do is um assign special conditions at tonight's meeting without kind of having MGB have a chance to respond to those and see if they're able to meet those special
conditions. For example, Well, you know, given the context of of this board, this meeting, and while I'm sensitive to everyone's plight, I motion to approve
the building portfolio application submitted by MGB. Was there a second from the board? I I'm I'll say personally I'm what I'm
struggling with is that I I think that [Music] um I I think that what board member Nelson has has said makes sense. And that in a way, one
thing that is challenging about this decision is that what we're doing is approving a plan that makes MGB accountable, right,
for for reducing their emissions. And so I've I'm we we're not relieving them of the burden of burden, right? In fact, we're um we're we're
creating a um we're we're creating a plan for for them to be compliant. um or or we're creating a plan for them to reduce their emissions over
time. Um so, um yeah, sorry. Yeah, Diana, no worries. It's no worries. I understand this is um there's a lot of good feedback and and comments that were shared today. Um and I don't know if this would be helpful context as well
during you know the the intention of the emissions standard compliance plan that's submitted 2 years post approval if the portfolio triggers um sort of the EJ criteria um is sort of is meant to be the place for a building owner to start
at least doing that long-term decarbonization strategy um Because as folks know, Verto is really meant to sort of shift the culture around building emissions where, you know, long-term decarbonist long-term decarbonization strategies are
more common. Um, but recognizing that building owners across the city are starting from different places. So, the emission standard compliance plan in two years is really meant to be like a starting place or a foundational place um for building portfolios. I don't know
if that's helpful for this uh conversation today. I know it sounds like um there are a lot of community concerns about having a plan in place today. Um but in terms of the context of Berto, it does allow for that two years.
Yeah. And I think Yeah. Oh, just adding that um the board can also request for you know specific information in that um or like more information in that as well in the in the 2-year plan. Yes. As
you've done with other um applicants. Yeah. The there's there's many hospitals and other entities that draw off of the MATE plant and this board has already approved these applications.
Right. So plan personally, we just did it a few minutes ago. What What's the difference? Make them make them come back in two years if we're going to do this. We're not going to We're not going to hold their hand. They have the money to shift gears. They're not a little
small business. They have the money. Two years. They will So, um, so board member Stoell, would you I could say clarify,
um, are are you saying that, um, that are you recommending a motion that requires them to report on moving away from reliance on that plan over the next two years? Yes.
Yeah. Yeah. And is that uh is that something that can be done within our purview to make that type of request or information that speaks to how they are either moving away from that plant or um
exerting their influence on the plant making changes. Is that outside of the scope of what we can actually ask or you know make a request on? Um, I think I'd
want to be careful about how we word it. Um but I think that asking you know what the what MGB's overall decarbonization strategy is including um and like how that is being sequenced with their um
overall emissions compliance plan and asking about how connections to district energy systems um are part of that decarbonization strategy would maybe be how I would word it. That's that's
exactly it. Yeah. And I guess Oh, sorry. Did I cut you off? No, no, no. I'm just agree with her 100%. I just didn't word it properly. I'm sorry. No, no. I I also
I I I want to share that, you know, this is this feels like a hard one um because of the the size of the portfolio, the size of the organization and um and the number of thoughtful comments we've
received. I also am thinking as a board member about if we don't make this decision then ostensibly we're we're pushing out the time period under which MGB will start to be measured and
accountable for reductions and so um so the board is sort of equally conflicted because I I think we've heard some good um we've we've heard really thoughtful comments and and
important comments about um about messaging around overall impact of of how the hospital operates. But um but in effect we lose some of that leverage to be able to really look at environmental
impact if we don't start off with a plan that we can measure from. So, um I would So, let me Yeah, I would amend the a motion that was on the table to include the the wording per the
motion to um I don't know how to do this in terms of rocks rules and all that, but a friendly amendment to include what Hannah Payne put on the table or rather either a friendly amendment to the motion on the table to include the language that Hannah
um referenced or or a new motion. I'm not sure how what process wise to to do it here. One more thought. Uh in addition to hand language, I did hear board Latimore earlier also ask for the emission standard compliance plan uh for
an update on M MWBE utilization policy. Um, so it it'll be a wordy one, but I believe the the motion is approve with standard conditions with a request in the emission standard compliance plan uh for an update on decarbonist
decarbonization strategies including um plans uh regarding connection to district energy systems and an M an update on an MWBE utilization policy. Thank you,
Diana. So, that's so that's a motion. I moved as per what Diana put on the table. Okay. And I um I will I would second that motion.
Um I I just want to clarify also that um that standard conditions um also include you know timely compliance with all reporting and third party verification
um that um and and submission of of plans and that um and the standard conditions also include that the review board or its design may Inspect any building that is part of an approved
building portfolio at reasonable times and with reasonable notice in order to assess compliance with the terms and conditions of said building portfolio. Meaning that Berto staff continues to monitor the implementation of these plans over time between now and and the
two-year mark. All right. Um so uh we have a motion on the table. I will call on um on board members um as to how they vote. In favor, opposed or abstain. I vote in favor. Councelor
Kleta Zapata. Um opposed. Okay. Um board member Latimore in favor. Board member Nelson
in favor. Board member Stell in favor. All right. The eyes have it. The motion passes. It is. Um I am
um I'm going to close the um the public hearing and um looking at time, I'm going to propose that we move the um minute approval and administrative updates to our next
meeting. Okay. Um, do I need to call the um the public meeting to order in order to call for a motion to adjurnn? Uh, no. If you if you'd like to just go straight to an adjourn. Okay. All right. I am going um
I I want to thank everyone who's came here tonight. Um all of the um thorough presentations and and thoughtful comments. Um they were all really meaningful and helpful uh to myself and
I I believe to the rest of the board. Um and I make a motion to adjourn this meeting. I have a second. Second. All right. And if board members could either um raise a hand physically or um
using the Zoom application um or unmute yourself. All right. Okay. All right. Um, unanimous motion to adjurnn. Thank you all very very much for your time. Um,
and we will see you in two weeks. Thank you.