We did it! The RES Will Be Extended in Rhode Island
In the wee hours of the morning stretching the final day of the 2016 legislative session, the Renewable Energy Standard (RES) extension bills passed in both the Senate and the House.
Energy policy & advocacy (21)
MA Senate energy bill released, Members expected to vote as early as Thursday, June 30
UPDATE AS OF JULY 1, 2016
Ma senate passes energy bill, including unanimous adoption of amendment prohibiting “pipeline tax”
As expected, the Massachusetts Senate took up S.2372, An act promoting energy diversity, on Thursday morning. With over 100 amendments to consider, debate on the bill ran late into the evening. But, when it was all said and done, Senate lawmakers unanimously passed a comprehensive energy bill that stands to bring a substantial amount of hydroelectricity and offshore wind into the region, incentivizes electric vehicles, addresses gas leaks, enhances energy efficiency, and protects ratepayers from paying for unnecessary fracked gas pipelines.
Updates on key ammendments listed in red below.
The bill now moves to conference committee where designees from the House and Senate will reconcile both versions before a final version is adopted and sent to the Governor to be signed.
Late last Friday, lawmakers in Senate Ways and Means released S.2372 – An act to promote energy diversity. Similar to the House bill that passed recently, this Senate bill addresses the purchase of large amounts of hydroelectricity and offshore wind. However, S.2372 does even more to promote clean energy in the Commonwealth. Here is a quick breakdown.
House Omnibus Energy Bill Hits the Floor: Members expected to vote on Wednesday, June 8th
UPDATE: House passed its Energy Bill (H.4385) on Wednesday, June 8 by a vote of 154-1. The bill includes a procurement of 1,200MW each of offshore wind and hydroelectricity. It also includes a technical amendment that addresses the need to fix gas leaks. A total of 61 amendments to the bill were filed and nearly all, including those that Mass Energy supported, were not voted on because they were withdrawn or laid aside as beyond the scope of the bill. This includes an amendment that would have increased the Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) and an amendment that would prohibit the “pipeline tax” on electric customers to fund unnecessary gas infrastructure.
The bill has made its way to the Senate where lawmakers are developing what we hope will be a more comprehensive energy bill. We would like to see the Senate version include the “pipeline tax” prohibition, an increase to the RPS, alongside the energy procurement and gas leak repair included in the House version.
After months of speculation, the House’s “omnibus” energy bill is slated to be taken up for a vote today (Wednesday, June 8th). H.4377 (An Act to promote energy diversity) directs utilities to procure a large amount of offshore wind and hydroelectricity.
Webinar Recording: “New Perspectives on RGGI and the Massachusetts Global Warming Solutions Act”
On June 2nd, our Executive Director, Larry Chretien, and Pat Knight (Synapse Energy Economics) spoke on a webinar about increasing RGGI reductions and the recent SJC ruling in favor of the Global Warming Solutions Act (GWSA). This webinar was presented as part of Synapse's Spring Webinar Series on trending topics in the electricity sector.
Mass. Court Ruling Hurts Case for Pipeline
On May 17, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) issued a unanimous opinion confirming that the landmark 2008 climate protection law, the Global Warming Solutions Act (GWSA), requires the state to take enforceable action to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions on an annual basis in order to achieve the law’s mandate. Basically, they said “limits are limits”, the targets are binding, more needs to be done to achieve the emission target for 2020, and the law is unambiguous.
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State High Court Rules in Favor of Global Warming Solutions Act
Unambiguous. That’s the word the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court used in it's unanimous decision to describe a requirement of the Department of Environmental Protection to write regulations ensuring that we see “declining aggregate emissions” of greenhouse gas emissions over time. As a coplaintiff in this case, Mass Energy is thrilled with the SJC’s order. We support the Global Warming Solutions Act (GWSA), which requires greenhouse gas emissions of 25% by 2020 and 80% by 2050 (both compared to 1990). And the GWSA clearly states that the Department must write regulations to get the job done. We hope that the Department will move quickly to write strong regulations that will get us to the important first milestone of 25% by 2020.
Solar Panels, SRECs, Double-counting, Oh My!
Thanks to New England’s relatively strong solar policies, many of our members have gone solar – by owning panels, leasing panels, or participating in community solar programs. To those of you who have gone solar – congrats! However, even though you’re generating solar power, you’re probably not consuming the solar power you generate. In other words, even if you have solar panels or are participating in community solar, you cannot necessarily make the claim that you’ve reduced your personal greenhouse gas emissions as a result.
Taxing Electricity to Pay for a Gas Pipeline Makes No Sense
On February 25, the Mass. Department of Public Utilities (DPU) held a public hearing on a petition filed by Eversource that permits the company to charge electricity ratepayers for a 20 year contract to source fracked gas from New York and Pennsylvania. The gas would come to Massachusetts through the proposed Access Northeast gas pipeline. This is the first of three such cases. National Grid has filed a similar petition with the DPU and is seeking permission to charge its electricity ratepayers for the Access Northeast and Northeast Energy Direct gas pipelines.
A Reality Check on the Massachusetts Clean Energy & Climate Plan
The Baker Administration just released its Clean Energy & Climate Plan (CECP) as required by the Global Warming Solutions Act (GWSA). They claim that the Commonwealth is on pace to meet our GWSA requirement of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions 25% by 2020 and that we will reach that number if certain things fall into place. It’s worth reading in full, but here’s a bit of a reality check.