The Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance has admirably pressed Commonwealth officials for details the regulators have been very dodgy in not providing to GAO, following up on questions raised in this report in the Commonwealth Beacon (that story broke what appears to be a pattern of non- or misfeasance by the Gov. Healey administration, and lack of enforcement of “climate” obligations against government agencies by the Healey AG office, despite her commitment enforcing the purportedly non-binding “Paris climate agreement” against the plebes).
GAO re-posts the release here:
MassFiscal Demands Full Disclosure of Legal Spending After Agencies Fail to Meet Own Climate Mandates
posted by MASSFISCAL |
February 13, 2026
More Than $534,000 in Taxpayer Funds Paid to Outside Law Firm as Administration Faces Questions
The Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance today sent a formal letter to Secretary Rebecca Tepper of the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs demanding full transparency regarding the administration’s use of taxpayer funds to hire outside legal counsel following revelations that state agencies failed to comply with their own climate mandates.
Public reporting on November 20, 2025 revealed that no Massachusetts agency complied with a 2017 law requiring regulators to meet the same climate standards imposed on residents and businesses. The Department of Environmental Protection itself was among the agencies that failed to follow climate mandates it helps enforce.
Subsequent Public Records Law litigation brought additional details to light. Rather than simply acknowledge the failure and provide full transparency, DEP retained outside counsel, Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C., in response to the legal challenge.
According to the state’s CTHRU spending portal, since April 1, 2025, the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs has paid Mintz Levin $534,691. Of that total, $417,620 was drawn from funds appropriated for “Climate Adaptation and Preparedness,” and $117,071.89 from “Environmental Affairs Administration.”
“It is deeply troubling that state agencies could not comply with their own climate mandates, yet taxpayers may now be footing the bill for outside lawyers to defend and manage that failure. If residents and small businesses are expected to follow costly regulations, the government must hold itself to the same standard,” said Paul Diego Craney, Executive Director of the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance.
MassFiscal’s letter calls on Secretary Tepper to disclose:
- The total amount spent to date on outside legal counsel related to this matter
- All funding sources and specific line items used to pay those legal bills
- All payment records and documentation reflecting the use of taxpayer funds
- The total anticipated future costs associated with the litigation
Watchdog requests for detailed payment records, including confirmations of wire transfers and related documentation, were met with responses from state agencies indicating that no additional responsive records were available beyond summary data published online.
“Taxpayers deserve transparency, not cover-up tactics. The government cannot comply with its own climate mandates and then spend additional taxpayer money to shield that failure from public scrutiny. That erodes trust and undermines accountability,” said Craney.
MassFiscal emphasized that funds appropriated for “Climate Adaptation and Preparedness” are intended to support environmental initiatives, not to finance legal defense stemming from agency non-compliance.
“This is a basic question of fiscal responsibility. How much taxpayer money is being spent on legal bills to defend agencies that failed to meet their own legal obligations? The public deserves a clear and complete answer,” closed Craney.
The organization is urging the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs to provide a full accounting without delay.
A copy of MassFiscal’s letter may be found here.