by THP Admin ·
Friday, August 30, 2024
One of the most challenging parts of the transition to clean energy is our need to ramp up the amount of energy in Massachusetts by a factor of three to meet our 2050 net zero goal. We’ll need substantially more clean power, substations, and power lines to take that energy to our homes. In Harvard, as in many other rural towns, we know how hard it is to get reliable and affordable power to our homes today, so imagine what it will take to get three times as much in the near future. It is an understatement to say the state has its work cut out.
The good news is that the Massachusetts Senate passed its version of a climate law to address these issues in June 2024, and it’s the basis for what’s likely to be a comprehensive climate law in 2025.
First, a little history about climate bills in Massachusetts. In previous bills over the last couple of years, the state took positive steps by setting an aggressive but needed goal to zero greenhouse gasses by 2050. It’s now law that we must reduce carbon emissions by at least 50% below 1990 levels by 2030, 75% below those levels by 2040, and achieve net zero emissions by 2050. It’s also law that utilities must buy plenty of wind-based energy instead of natural gas over the next 25 years. The existing laws are solid, but there’s still more work to do.
The new 2025 bill will focus on several areas. It will streamline the process of adding new clean infrastructure by significantly speeding up the permitting and implementation processes, making it harder to expand the use of natural gas, and adding a large number of much-needed electric car chargers across the state. As an aside, it will also expand the bottle bill so it applies to additional bottle types and raise the deposit amount from five to ten cents.
When the 2025 bill becomes law, all permits for new projects must be implemented within 15 months, a significant improvement over what can now take up to four years. Why is permitting reform so important? Well, by some estimates, there’s twice as much power waiting to get on the grid as is currently generated on it. Or, stated differently, the free market wants to invest heavily in clean energy, and our processes and regulations are getting in the way. Almost everyone in the state government agrees, and the proposed changes are not controversial. What about residents? Don’t they sometimes suffer if we move too fast? The good news here is that the proposed bill will require developers of these clean energy projects to fully engage with affected residents before receiving a permit, which should cut down on costly delays and litigation, and ensure residents’ concerns are considered.
The 2025 bill will also rein in the expansion of natural gas by tweaking the laws so we no longer incentivize its expansion. It’s hard to believe we incentivize natural gas expansion today, but we do, and not always intentionally. When the bill becomes law, the Department of Public Utilities must review any new expansion request to ensure it’s compatible with the state’s emission reduction targets. Existing pipes with leaks, one of the current loopholes, will likely have to be repaired or decommissioned.
Finally, plenty of electric vehicle chargers will be added to airports, highway rest stops, and residential areas. For those of you who own an EV now, you know that sufficient reliable public charging has been a significant problem this year. This bill will address the issue. Here’s one EV goal the state has put in place, which is related to putting in place sufficient EV charging stations. It wants to quadruple the number of registered EVs in Massachusetts to three hundred thousand in the year after the bill becomes law. That’s an excellent goal.
All this is to say, the likely 2025 law is great news. If you’re interested in advocating for it, please get in touch with our senator, Jamie Eldridge, and let him know you support turning the bill into a law in 2025.
Rich Marcello is a novelist and a member of the Climate Initiative Committee. In writing his latest novel, “The Means of Keeping,” he spent several years researching the climate crisis.