Name: Embattled Massachusetts climate official David Ismay resigns ‘immediately’
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Embattled Massachusetts climate official David Ismay resigns ‘immediately’

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By | and | | Boston HeraldDavid Ismay, the Baker administration’s $130,000-a-year climate change undersecretary, has resigned “immediately,” citing his incendiary comments.In his resignation letter, Ismay wrote: “It is with great regret that I submit my resignation, effectively immediately, from the position of Undersecretary for Climate Change in the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs.”The resignation letter is addressed to his boss, Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs Kathleen Theoharides. He emailed a copy to the Herald Thursday morning from his private hotmail account.Ismay heads out the door after a series of questionable comments about forcing homeowners, motorists and fishermen to prepare for hard times as the state pushes for net-zero emissions in the years to come.Even Gov. Charlie Baker bristled at Ismay’s rhetoric, saying the undersecretary “does not speak” for him.When asked whether the six-figure position would be filled following Ismay’s departure, the governor said, “that’s a really important job and Secretary Theoharides needs to figure out what to do.”Baker added, “We’ve done a lot of great work on climate over the course of the past six years here and we hope and anticipate we’ll be able to do a lot more going forward.”Ismay laded on the hot seat after of the undersecretary saying the state needs to “break their will” and “turn the screws on” ordinary people to force changes in their consumption of heating fuels and gasoline. Ismay described the ordinary people as the “person across the street” and the “senior on fixed income.”That didn’t sit well with the governor.MassFiscal spokesman Paul Diego Craney said Ismay is an example of an unelected official with too much power.“For the past year, we’ve continually warned the public regarding the dangerous amount of power being handed over to unelected bureaucrats through various climate initiatives such as the Transportation &amp; Climate Initiative (TCI) and the pending climate bill,” Craney said.In his resignation, Ismay added that he “worked diligently to ensure the health and welfare of residents across Massachusetts in the face of the global climate crisis” and the “equitable solutions” targeted.“I would like to apologize, again, for my comments at last month’s Vermont Climate Council meeting,” he added in his resignation letter. “My inability to clearly communicate during that discussion reflected poorly on the Governor, on you, and on our hardworking staff. Although my comments were interpreted by some as placing the burden of climate change on hardworking families and vulnerable populations, my intent was the opposite.”Ismay said he was “urging caution in order to minimize such impacts out of a sincere concern that overly aggressive emissions targets may have unintended and harmful consequences on those we most need to protect.”We invite you to use our commenting platform to engage in insightful conversations about issues in our community. We reserve the right at all times to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable to us, and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. We might permanently block any user who abuses these conditions.Sign up for email newslettersFollow UsMost PopularClose

By | and | | Boston HeraldDavid Ismay, the Baker administration’s $130,000-a-year climate change undersecretary, has resigned “immediately,” citing his incendiary comments.In his resignation letter, Ismay wrote: “It is with great regret that I submit my resignation, effectively immediately, from the position of Undersecretary for Climate Change in the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs.”The resignation letter is addressed to his boss, Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs Kathleen Theoharides. He emailed a copy to the Herald Thursday morning from his private...

Embattled Massachusetts climate official David Ismay resigns ‘immediately’

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