Maura Healey Begs Trump Team To Fast-Track Gas Pipeline She Once Fought—What Changed?

According to Gateway Pundit, Healey has abruptly shifted from boasting about blocking gas infrastructure to pressing Washington for more of it, underscoring how soaring energy costs and political pressure can force even progressive leaders to confront reality. On Thursday, Healey sent a letter to Energy Secretary Chris Wright asking the administration to fast-track federal permits for Enbridge’s Algonquin Reliable Affordable Resilient Enhancement project, known as RARE, a pipeline expansion designed to boost natural gas supply into Massachusetts.

She urged Wright to “work across the Administration to ensure that the federal reviews and permits needed for RARE move without delay,” and further insisted that “sufficient staff and resources are dedicated to completing the required reviews in time to preserve the project’s planned 2028 in-service date.” Her own press office confirmed the request, underscoring that this is not a quiet bureaucratic maneuver but a public pivot by a governor who once styled herself as a crusader against fossil fuel development.

In an October 1 release, Healey openly called on the Trump administration to expedite federal review of the Algonquin expansion, which she now claims she has long supported. Her office said the RARE project would deliver gas to about 600,000 customers and reduce gas bills by roughly $40 million annually, largely by cutting dependence on higher-cost imported liquefied natural gas through the Everett LNG terminal.

State regulators have already laid the groundwork for the shift. In January, the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities approved two 10-year agreements between Eversource gas utilities and Algonquin to take the new supply, locking in long-term commitments to natural gas that climate activists have spent years trying to avoid.

Healey emphasized that Enbridge, not ratepayers, would shoulder the development costs, a key political talking point as families struggle with inflation and high utility bills. “I’ve been clear that we need to bring more energy supply into Massachusetts with an all-of-the-above approach that includes solar, wind, storage, nuclear, geothermal, hydro and gas,” Healey said in the release, adopting language more often heard from republicans than from the progressive left.

She added, “This project will lower costs for 600,000 customers… Massachusetts is moving forward with its review, and I’m asking the federal government to do the same — move quickly and keep this project on track so customers can see the savings.” For a governor who once framed gas infrastructure as a climate threat, the new emphasis on affordability and reliability marks a striking change in priorities.

That shift is especially stark when measured against her record as attorney general. In October 2019, Healey sued ExxonMobil, accusing the company of deceiving Massachusetts consumers and investors about climate change, declaring, “Exxon has known for decades about the catastrophic climate impacts of burning fossil fuels—its chief product,” and later winning a key procedural victory when Massachusetts’ highest court rejected Exxon’s effort to dismiss the case.

She was equally aggressive on pipelines, telling a WBUR gubernatorial forum in April 2022, “I stopped two gas pipelines from coming into this state,” specifically naming Kinder Morgan and Access Northeast, as reported by The Daily Caller. “I think I’ve shown my willingness to stand up to the fossil fuel industry and also to oppose new gas infrastructure in this state,” she said, pointing to a 2015 study from her office that claimed Massachusetts did not need more gas capacity for electric reliability and that electric ratepayers should not be forced to fund new pipelines.

Local media have now begun to highlight the contradiction. The Boston Globe noted this week that while Healey, as attorney general, worked to slow pipeline projects, as governor she is now pressing to speed them up, a reversal that raises questions about whether her earlier opposition was driven more by ideology than by sound energy policy.

The timing is politically sensitive as well. The Boston Herald reported that Healey’s letter landed about a month before the November election, with energy costs emerging as a central issue in her race against republican challenger Mike Minogue, who has made affordability and reliable energy supply key planks of his campaign.

Minogue seized on the moment to accuse Healey of opportunism and double-talk. On X, he wrote, “We need clean, safe natural gas to power Massachusetts forward and lower your energy bills. Maura Healey stopped the pipelines from coming in. Now, 30 days until the election, she’s following my lead. Just like with the gas tax holiday, it’s all talk and no action. It’s time for a new kind of governor.”

Beyond the immediate RARE project, Healey’s letter hinted at an even larger build-out of gas infrastructure. She told Wright “there may be more opportunities ahead,” a clear reference to Enbridge’s Project Beacon, a proposal roughly four times the size of RARE that could increase Algonquin supply by as much as 10 percent and potentially come online in 2030, CommonWealth Beacon reported.

For conservatives, the episode underscores a familiar pattern: progressive politicians campaign on sweeping green promises, only to rediscover the necessity of reliable, affordable energy when confronted with economic and electoral realities. Healey’s newfound enthusiasm for natural gas, after years of litigation and activism against fossil fuels, suggests that even in deep-blue Massachusetts, the laws of supply, demand, and voter patience still apply.