On Tuesday, the MA Senate voted 38 to 2 to pass its climate omnibus bill (An Act upgrading the grid and protecting ratepayers). The 2 NO votes coming from Republicans Peter Durant of Spencer and Ryan Fattman of Sutton.
Here are some of the key parts of it.
Siting Reform
- Establishes a fund to support individuals, local governments, and community organizations seeking to intervene in the siting regulatory process (formally known as “intervenors”), a Division of Public Participation within the Department of Public Utilities, and an Office of Environmental Justice and Equity
- Creates a consolidated permitting process under the Energy Facilities Siting Board (as opposed to a series of permits across local, regional, and state levels) for various clean energy projects and limits the review process to one year for smaller projects and 15 months for larger projects
- Requires any electric company, distribution company, generation company, transmission company or natural gas pipeline company to petition the Energy Facilities Siting Board when it seeks to take land via eminent domain
- Requires the facility siting division within the Department of Public Utilities to maintain a clean energy infrastructure dashboard
Moving Beyond Gas
- Allows gas companies to provide networked geothermal energy
- Requires the Department of Utilities to consider the public interest (such as achieving greenhouse gas reduction goals) and the availability of non-gas alternatives when evaluating proposals from gas companies to expand territory and petitions from individuals for gas service.
- Requires gas companies to file plans with the Department of Public Utilities on decommissioning gas infrastructure and remedying leak-prone infrastructure
- Repeals the gas system expansion mandate at the DPU (i.e., the requirement that gas companies design programs “which increase the availability, affordability and feasibility of natural gas service for new customers”
Electrification of Transportation
- Makes it easier for cities and towns to procure electric school buses and EV charging equipment for their municipalities
- Authorizes $27M from the RGGI Auction Trust Fund to be made available for the Electric Vehicle Adoption Incentive Trust Fund for the next three fiscal years
- Prohibits a historic district commission, board of a neighborhood conservation district, or condo association from prohibiting or unreasonably restricting an individual unit owner from installing electric vehicle supply equipment.
- Requires the MBTA to develop short-term, medium-term, and long-term plans to electrify the commuter rail (Amendment #31)
Building Decarbonization
- Directs the Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance to evaluate the potential of increasing energy efficiency and reducing greenhouse gas emissions in all buildings owned or leased by the Commonwealth
- Expands the mission of the Board of Building Regulations to include energy efficiency, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and reductions in embodied carbon
Consumer Protection
- Prohibits competitive electric suppliers, which frequently engage in predatory business practices, from signing up new residential customers,
- Requires the Department of Public Utilities to establish discounted rates for moderate-income consumers with distribution companies
Defining Clean Energy
- Positive: Removes the designation of biomass as clean energy for Municipal Light Plant clean energy standards (Amendment #34)
- Negative: Expands the definition of “clean energy” to include nuclear, carbon dioxide removal, hydrogen, renewable natural gas and includes carbon capture & sequestration in clean energy research
Just Transition
- Creates a commission to examine ways to increase access to employment, training, and workforce opportunities in clean energy industries and related fields for gas workers (Amendment #120)
Other Measures
- Updates the state’s bottle bill to expand the types of beverage containers that have a deposit, to cover water bottles, iced teas, fruit juices, and more (Amendment #67)
Unfortunately, several of the amendments we supported to strengthen the bill were withdrawn:
- #14 Protecting the Commonwealth from Gas Expansion (Gomez), which would halt large gas infrastructure expansion projects from being approved by the Energy Facilities Siting Board (EFSB).
- #15 Halting the Expansion of Large Gas Pipes (Gomez), which would stop the Department of Public Utilities (DPU) from approving gas companies to expand into new towns & cities not already served by gas.
- #16 Protecting the Climate and Ratepayers from Gas Expansion (Gomez), which would halt both large gas infrastructure expansions approvals by the EFSB (Amendment 14) and gas territory expansions by the DPU (Amendment 15).
- #100 Improving Outdoor Air Quality (Jehlen), which would create a technical advisory committee for air quality, direct the DEP to identify at least 8 pollution hot spots, install air monitors, and reduce the air pollution by 50% by 2030.
- #106 Stemming the Expansion of RNG and Hydrogen (Eldridge), which would stop RNG and Hydrogen as being defined as clean energy.
- #119 Prevailing Wage (Feeney), which would bring natural gas, electrical, and renewable energy utility workers under the Commonwealth’s prevailing wage statute to make it harder for work to be outsourced to low-road employers.
And several were voted down in quick, perfunctory voice votes with no accountability:
- #28 Zero Carbon Renovation Fund (Gomez), which would provide funding for the decarbonization measures we need across sectors to meet Massachusetts’ ambitious climate goals.
- #35 Limiting Biomass (Gomez), which would remove subsidies for burning biomass.
- #57 Clean Energy Siting and Permitting, Local Option Amendment (Mark), which would make the consolidated permit a local option (like stretch code).
- #116 Accurately Assessing Community Impacts (DiDomenico), which would strike a clause from the definition of cumulative impact analyses that would limit the analysis to only assessing the risks and exposures attributable to the proposed new pollution source
- #119 Prevailing Wage (Feeney), which would bring natural gas, electrical, and renewable energy utility workers under the Commonwealth’s prevailing wage statute to make it harder for work to be outsourced to low-road employers.
