Accomplishments

2008:  Massachusetts State Senate passed the Global Warming Solutions Act! The Senate passed landmark global warming legislation that will reduce emissions of greenhouse gases from the Commonwealth by 20 percent below 1990 levels by 2020 and 80 percent by 2050.  Students around the state organized call-in days, gathered over 7,000 petitions to their legislators, and organized events on their campus to build support for this legislation. According to Senator Pacheco, Chair of the Global Warming Committee:  "The involvement of students all across Massachusetts has been essential for generating change in the fight against global warming. Student volunteers are passionate about improving our environment, developing innovative solutions, and improving the lives of each and every citizen of the Commonwealth through sound environmental policies. We are fortunate for their hard work and dedication. Through civic engagement the youth here in Massachusetts are making a huge difference in our future."  For articles from across the state on the campaign, visit “MASSPIRG in the News.”

2007:  Over two hundred MASSPIRG students from our 18 chapters attended Powershift 2007, the largest global warming conference in history at the University of Maryland, College Park.  MASSPIRG staff and students ran trainings, organized workshops and helped to run the conference.  The conference ended with a rally at the capitol in DC and then students met with their legislators and lobbied them to pass the Safe Climate Act, a comprehensive cap on emissions at the federal level.

2007:  In October, over 50 students from MASSPIRG chapters and student governments came to Boston to attend a hearing for the Massachusetts State House of Representatives Higher Education Committee.  Students testified, presented petitions, and asked legislators to make textbooks more affordable by requiring publishing companies to disclose the price of their textbooks to faculty, and sell the book separately from the extra bells & whistles (like CDs, workbooks, etc) when applicable.  The Affordable Textbooks bill which would address these issues and sponsored by Rep. Steven Walsh, passed out of committee with a favorable recommendation!

2007:  In September, Congress passed historic legislation that awards almost 20 Billion dollars to students, the largest allotment since the GI Bill at no cost to taxpayers.  The College Access and Affordability Act has two major programs for student loans. The first is that it will reduce interest rates for more than 5 million low and middle-income borrowers over the next four years. The second is that it puts into place an Income-Based Repayment program that protects federal student loan borrowers from having to pay an unreasonable amount of their income each month to cover their loans.  This was a huge victory for MASSPIRG students, and staff who were organizing petition drives, student debt alert events on their campus, and speaking at higher education hearings in DC.

2007:  In January, MASSPIRG students began organizing events on their campuses, asking for more renewable energy in the state.  Students organized solar smoothie events, mini windmill farms, and coal vs. wind face offs.  Our staff and students had district meetings with legislators and gathered petitions.  Because of our hard work, both houses of the Massachusetts legislature voted to pass a strong renewable energy standard, requiring the state to get 14% of its energy from clean, renewable sources like wind and solar power by the year 2020.

2007: In January, newly elected Governor Deval Patrick signed Massachusetts on to the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), which is a pact between the New England Governors to aggressively reduce greenhouse gas emissions that are causing global warming. This move came after years of tireless advocacy and activism on the part of students across the state. A commitment had initially been made by former Governor Romney who unfortunately backed the Commonwealth out of the agreement at the last minute. With this victory we can now put Massachusetts back on the path to solving global warming.

2007: MASSPIRG worked with a national coalition to convince the U.S. House of Representatives to pass HR 5, which would cut in half the interest rate on student loans.  The bill passed with overwhelming bipartisan support, by a vote of 356 to 71.  The bill would lower interest rates over five years on subsidized Stafford student loans, which are used overwhelmingly by students from low- and middle-income families.  This would save the average low or middle-income borrower starting school in 2007 $2,300 in debt.

2006: MASSPIRG students and staff registered over 6000 college students across the state to vote in the Massachusetts gubernatorial elections.  In some districts, we increased youth voter turnout by 200% from 2004.

2005-2006: MASSPIRG along with the Student PIRGs across the country launched the Campus Climate Challenge. The goal of the challenge is for 500 colleges across the country to take the lead in fighting climate change by committing to reduce their emissions to 90% below 2005 levels by 2050.

2004-2006: MASSPIRG released groundbreaking reports on how the textbook publishing industry is ripping-off students. CALPIRG students surveyed hundreds of professors and bookstores and our research led to approximately 400 news stories across the country. In addition, Congress called for an independent study by the GAO. After our reports, Pearson announced an online textbook that is 50% cheaper than the paperback version and the UCLA Math department negotiated a 20% cheaper Thomson Learning textbook.

2005: Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney signed legislation that will cut utility bills for customers throughout the state by making common appliances more energy efficient. The law makes Massachusetts the first state to respond to the national energy crisis by embracing updated energy efficiency standards for furnaces and boilers, one of a home’s biggest energy users.

2005: GAO study on textbook prices supports MASSPIRG’s previous conclusions that textbook publishers’ practices are driving up the costs of textbooks. The GAO report received attention from press across the country including USA Today.

2005: MASSPIRG worked in a coalition to raise $50,000 for tsunami relief efforts.

2005: MASSPIRG students working with groups across campus organized different responses to Hurricane Katrina and Rita. UMass-Dartmouth MASSPIRG students organized trips down to the gulf for over 50 students. MASSPIRG students from UMass-Amherst, UMass-Boston, and Bristol Community College also joined trips to the gulf. On campus, MASSPIRG students organized fundraisers and educational events including a Dodgeball tournament fundraiser at UMass-Amherst that raised almost $5,000.

2005: Despite a strong push by the oil industry and their allies in Congress, MASSPIRG and the State PIRGs were part of a successful campaign to beat back the latest effort to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for drilling. The fight was the latest in a 25-year effort to combat drilling in this pristine wilderness.

2004: MASSPIRG registered 9700 college students to vote in the Fall 2004 election, through the national, non-partisan New Voters Project. The state effort combined with the national campaign resulted in a 10% increase in turnout for 18 to 24 year old voters from the 2000 to the 2004 election.

2004: MASSPIRG chapters gathered hundreds of public comments from hunters and fishermen at sportsmen shows across the state to the EPA in order to keep strong clean air laws in place at the national level, and sends 500 letters to the state DEP to ensure strict regulation of mercury emissions from the state’s Filthy Five power plants.

2003: MASSPIRG gathers 10,000 signatures and holds a dozen press events across Massachusetts to Governor Romney for the Stopping Global Warming Starts Here campaign. In May 2004, the Governor announced his Climate Change Action Plan, one of only a few plans of its kind in the nation.

2003: MASSPIRG was among the leading organizations that persuaded the U.S. Senate in March 2003 to protect one of the nation's most important wilderness areas, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

2002: MASSPIRG helped convince the EPA to set tough new limits to reduce levels of toxic arsenic in drinking water and strong new standards to reduce air pollution from diesel trucks and buses.

2002: MASSPIRG students from across the state mobilized 1,000 volunteers to help at local homeless shelters and raised $15,000 for poverty refief.

2002: MASSPIRG chapters across the state collected 3,500 student signatures in favor of protecting public lands from development.

2002: MASSPIRG's ecopledge campaign convinced Staples to stop selling products made from old-growth wood, and convinced Coke and Pepsi to start using recycled plastic in their bottles.

2001: Over 1,000 volunteers turn out to the largest Charles River Cleanup ever, organized by MASSPIRG and Mass. Community Water Watch.

2001: Over $10,000 is raised and hundreds of volunteers come out to the 17th Annual Hunger Cleanup. The Cleanup donates the funds to local shelters and hunger programming, and sends volunteers to soup kitchens and shelters all across the state to volunteer for the day.

2000: The Legislature passes the Children's Protection Act, banning the most dangerous pesticides from day care centers and schools.

2000: After a statewide campaign built support for its passage, the Legislature approves the Beaches Bill, establishing statewide water testing and directing local officials to notify swimmers when pollution reaches dangerous levels.

2000: MASSPIRG and other state PIRGs are a driving force behind President Clinton's decision to protect nearly 60 million acres of pristine national forests, including 260,000 acres in New England, from road building and most logging.

2000: After MASSPIRG and GE Food Alert found genetically engineered StarLink corn not approved for humans in taco shells, producers issue a massive recall.

2000: The Youth Vote coalition registers 10,000 young voters across the state in under eight weeks.

1999: Following negotiations with MASSPIRG, the Southern Company agrees to cut emissions from its Cape Cod Power Plant by 50%.

1999: MASSPIRG students and volunteers collect 106,000 signatures to get the Children's Protection Act on the ballot for 2000.

1998: The Legislature passes the MASSPIRG backed Brownfields Bill, which speeds up the cleanup and redevelopment of the state's 7700 hazardous waste sites.

1997: More than 500 volunteers perform community service and raise $10,000 for hunger relief through the 12th Annual Hunger Clean-Up.

1996: Volunteers pull over 20 tons of trash from Massachusetts rivers and streams in 25 separate waterway cleanups.

1996: MASSPIRG helps to protect 9,000 miles of Massachusetts' waterways with the passage of our top legislative priority, the Rivers Protection Act.

1996: 12,000 new students are registered to vote as part of the Campus Youth Vote Program.

1995: President Clinton invites MASSPIRG Student Board Chair Alliea Groupp, a Clark University junior, to the White House for a meeting on Higher Education Policy with Secretary of Education Richard Riley, Secretary of Labor Robert Reich, and several other Cabinet members.

1994: As a result of pressure from MASSPIRG, among other groups, Governor Weld signs the MASSPIRG-backed Motor Voter Law, making it more convenient for citizens to register to vote.

1993: The American Lung Association of Massachusetts recognizes MASSPIRG's Solid Waste Program Director with its annual Environmental Health Award.

1992: Special interests spend over $6 million to defeat Question 3, the Recycling Initiative, on the state ballot. Oil and chemical companies outspend proponents of the Polluter Pay Initiative by an 8-to-1 margin. The initiative also loses.

1991: MASSPIRG students gather signatures to place the Recycling Initiative on the ballot. A similar effort gathers 120,000 signatures for the Polluter Pay initiative.

1990: The MASSPIRG backed Clean Air law is adopted by the legislature, mandating the Northeast's toughest anti-smog actions.

1989: MASSPIRG spearheads an effort that wins passage of the landmark Toxics Use Reduction Act. The new law promises to cut toxic waste and toxic chemical use in Massachusetts.

1988: A MASSPIRG study, "Taking Consumers for a Ride," reveals that collision damage waivers offered by rental car agents are overpriced and often unnecessary. State and federal lawmakers enact reforms within a few years of the report's release.

1987: MASSPIRG lobbying wins a truth in advertising law for the credit card industry, requiring ads and promotional literature to detail interest rates, annual fees, and grace periods.

1986: MASSPIRG helps to win the Appliance Energy Efficiency Bill, requiring washers, dryers and other appliances to meet energy-efficiency standards and saving state consumers money.

1985: We help win a Pollution Penalties Law, empowering state officials to levy fines of up to $25,000 a day against violators of anti-pollution laws.

1984: Over 1600 student leaders from around the country gather at Harvard University for the MASSPIRG-sponsored National Student Conference on Voter Registration.

1983: MASSPIRG investigators find elementary schools unwittingly ordering art supplies containing toxic ingredients for use by young children. Five years later, Congress passes a national Truth in Labeling Law for toxic art supplies.

1982: The national beverage industry spends $1.4 million attempting to repeal the Bottle Bill before it takes effect. However, voters back the Bottle Bill by a 59% margin, after MASSPIRG and our allies conduct a statewide campaign.

1981: After a nine year battle, MASSPIRG wins passage of the Bottle Bill.

1981: MASSPIRG students at Clark University tally 125 calls per month to their Small Claims Court Advisory Service. The hotline is staffed by trained volunteers and open to the entire Worcester Community.

1980: Students and volunteers bring over 10,000 cans signed by citizens to the State House in support of the Bottle Bill.

1979: MASSPIRG wins passage of a Solar Tax Credit, giving homeowners an incentive to use solar energy.

1978: We help win a law limiting security deposits to one month's rent, and requiring landlords to place those deposits in interest-bearing escrow accounts.

1977: A MASSPIRG report exposes serious flaws in emergency evacuation plans for communities surrounding nuclear power plants.

1976: We help win the Generic Drug Law, letting consumers buy prescription drugs without the brand-name markup.

1975: MASSPIRG spotlights paper mill pollution of the Millers River watershed. The Erving Paper Mill later pays a $30,000 civil fine, the largest to date under the federal Clean Water Act.

1974: Utilities cancel construction of a nuclear energy plant in Montague after voters oppose the plant in a first-in-the-nation, MASSPIRG supported county-wide referendum.

1973: Our intervention helps block five hydroelectric facilities that threatened the Connecticut River Valley.

1972: Students vote to start the first PIRG chapter in Massachusetts at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.