Climbing bills from climatologists
And so farewell then, Melissa Hoffer, the state’s first “climate czar,” off to yet another cushy new no-heavy-lifting job, after three years on the payroll of Gov. Maura Healey where she accomplished… what, exactly?
Hoffer’s credentials are of course extraordinary. Just ask her. As her biography on the mass.gov website explains:
“She joined the Biden Administration as a Day 1 political appointee.”
Is that something to brag about? Day 1 was the moment Dementia Joe killed the Keystone Pipeline, threw 12,000 trade-union members out of work and set the US on a dark road to energy dependence.
Melissa, now 62, ended up at Dementia Joe’s EPA as “Principal Deputy General Counsel.” That’s three diminutives in her title. The rule of thumb in the hackerama is, the more diminutives, the lighter the work load.
"Melissa, now 62, ended up at Dementia Joe’s EPA as “Principal Deputy General Counsel."
On her last day on the job, such as it was, Hoffer was addressing Maura’s crew of no-nonsense, sensible-shoes gals in her usual grim fashion:
“We should be putting in place a hard stop on natural gas infrastructure.”
A hard stop! What about just a hard stop on the Massachusetts economy, period? Although you could argue that the policies of Healey and Boston Mayor Michelle Wu are doing exactly that.
Boston has become the city with no cranes. Major construction is at a virtual standstill, due to the economic policies of Healey and Boston Mayor Michelle Wu. No new (real) jobs are being created.
These trust-funded snowflakes in the green hackeramas are very worried about the climate. Your utility bills, not so much. Maura and Michelle have created all these good jobs at good wages, and all these paper shufflers do is have lunch, take three-day weekends and assign one another to write papers.
Consider the Embodied Carbon Intergovernmental Coordinating Council.
It’s supposed to cut down on carbon usage or emissions or something in new construction. But again, Healey and Wu have solved the problem without the Coordinating Council, just by cratering the economy and thus putting an end to new construction.
Hoffer is being replaced in her $173,123-a-year job by Aladdine Joroff, the deputy climate chief and director of mitigation and community resilience.
They all give each other these big titles. Notice, though, how none of their arduous responsibilities include, say, cutting utility bills for consumers, or stopping the theft of $40 million from the Mass Saves program by two cop brothers named Ponzo from Stoneham.
No, saving the planet is much more important than saving the taxpayers.
Hoffer’s departure for even greener pastures in the Green Mountain State is a time to check in on the state’s climate hackerama – or at least one small branch of it.
Take the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EOEEA). Katherine Antos is the Undersecretary of Decarbonization & Resilience. Annual pay: $185,499 a year.
Under EOEEA, Antos runs an entire Climate Team of her own, not to be confused with the governor’s Office of Climate Innovation and Resilience.
The EOEEA Climate Team even has their own photo on the mass.gov website. Whatever their motto is, the Climate Team’s isn’t “Dress for Success.” How many of these six-figure payroll patriots do you suppose have pet cats (as opposed to children)?
The Climate Team also has a staff directory. In addition to the undersecretary for decarbonization, the team includes an assistant secretary for decarbonization. That’s Melissa Mittelman, who makes $132,314 a year.
All these climate hackeramas are big into “policy.” Hong-Hanh Chu is policy advisor for carbon sequestration & storage, $106,519.
Martha Grover is policy advisor for building decarbonization, $100,303, and Mark Scribner is policy advisor for transportation decarbonization, $105,318.
At the green public trough, “analytics” are almost as important as “policy.” The reason is simple. Getting “results” is tough, analytics and policy, not so tough. You’re just using AI to churn out some BS for somebody who theoretically at least must worry about… results.
So here’s the analytics crew.
Daniel Engelberg is the $121,092 director of energy & climate analysis, Aimee Powelka is manager for decarbonization analytics, $100,303. Dunbar Carpenter is manager of land carbon science & analysis, $98,520.
These names and phony-baloney job descriptions are all right there on the mass.gov website, and I’m not even listing everybody on the depth chart. The salaries come from the state comptroller’s website.
See for yourself. And this is just a single subsection of one state hackerama.
Next is the Climate Team’s Resilience Team, headed by the assistant secretary for resilience, Mia Mansfield, $143,143 a year. She is assisted by, among so many others, the assistant climate secretary/coastal hazards specialist, who is named Margot Mansfield.
Margot Mansfield, as opposed to Mia Mansfield, makes $126,058.
Another nationwide search!
Then there’s Sarah Alexander, director of resilience & finance, $118,320 a year. Edwin Sumargo is the “climate scientist” for $118,756, assisted by Margot Mansfield and another assistant climate scientist, this one a “hydroclimatologist,” Caitlin Spence. She makes $118,756.
That’s right, the assistant climate scientist makes more than the climate scientist. Go figure. And what the hell is a hydroclimatologist?
If you look at that photograph, you’ll notice a lack of, shall we say, diversity. Not to worry though – the Climate Team has a division for “Community Engagement & Partnership.”
Meet Oleander Stone, deputy director of climate equity and environmental justice. That’s good for $111,448 a year. But Oleander, which of your duties is more significant – climate equity or environmental justice?
Most people in Massachusetts, at least those in the (real) working classes, are likewise seeking some environmental justice -- in the form of lower utility bills. Why does a kilowatt hour of electricity cost 30.5 cents in Massachusetts, but only 15 cents in Florida?
And Florida doesn’t even have an undersecretary for decarbonization & resilience.
