Dean backs Baker in applauding hydropower mix

By Matt Murphy
State House News Service

Posted Oct. 28, 2015 at 2:47 PM

BOSTON - Former Vermont governor and Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean on Wednesday supported Gov. Charlie Baker's push to import large-scale hydropower to Massachusetts, calling the governor's approach "groundbreaking."

The former Democratic presidential candidate paid Baker a visit at the State House after Steve Grossman, the former state treasurer and one-time head of the national Democratic Party, connected the two men over their shared energy agendas. Energy Secretary Matthew Beaton also attended the meeting.

"Hydro has been a tremendous source of clean, reliable, 24-hour, seven-day-a-week baseload supply for Vermonters for a long time," Baker, a Republican, told reporters after meeting with Dean.

Dean, who described himself as a "huge fan" of Hydro-Quebec, said hydropower became "enormously helpful" to Vermont as a source of baseload power when the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant went offline in 2014. Vermont Yankee was owned by the same corporation, Entergy, that plans to shut down Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Plymouth by 2019.

"I think if you care about solar and wind you have to have baseload power," Dean said.

Dean called Baker's legislation that proposes to seek best offers from hydroelectric power generators to bring power into Massachusetts a "groundbreaking" approach, saying that without hydro Massachusetts will likely have to replace the baseload capacity being lost from Pilgrim with carbon-emitting sources.

"It's important that we recognize that hydro can play a big role, especially with wind, as a source of supply when wind isn't blowing," Baker said.

Baker said Grossman called him several weeks ago to tell him about a discussion he had with Dean about hydropower, and suggested the two connect. Baker called Dean and the two governors spoke for about 20 minutes before Baker suggested they meet in person with Beaton whenever Dean might be in Boston and have the time.

Since putting his own proposals on the table to expand access to charter schools, create new markets for hydropower and address the opioid addiction crisis, Baker has been meeting with different individuals and groups to showcase support for his agenda from a broad swath of constituencies, including Democrats.

Dean, who spoke at the Massachusetts Democratic Party Convention in Springfield this summer on behalf of Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, steered clear of politics in his remarks to reporters, but couldn't help from slipping in a subtle dig at the Republican field.

Asked why he is supporting Clinton over his fellow Vermonter Sen. Bernie Sanders for president, Dean said, "I've endorsed Hillary a long time ago and I'm not going to get into that. We can spend all day on that, but I'm here to talk about hydro and not partisan politics, especially with Gov. Baker, who has his own set of problems with his side."