Senate Passes Sweeping Energy Plan
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The Act to Generate Renewable Energy and Efficiency Now, or GREEN Act, also allows municipalities to construct, own and operate small renewable energy generation sources.
A similar version of the bill, filed by House Speaker Salavatore Dimasi with the backing of Rep. Daniel E. Bosley, D-North Adams, passed the House in November.
The Senate unanimously approved the measure but not until after a number of changes were made. The House and Senate versions will likely be hammered out in a joint committee.
"This package contains many progressive initiatives to advance the renewable energy resources we believe will reduce rising energy costs and promote efficiency and conservation in Massachusetts,” said state Sen. Benjamin B. Downing, D-Pittsfield.
Downing was recently appointed to a Biofuels Task Force, charged to examine the use and implementation of biofuels and their regulation.
"Day after day, we hear about the skyrocketing prices of gas and home heating oil and more news about the changes in our climate," Senate President Therese Murray, D-Plymouth, said. "We cannot continue on this course if we expect to revitalize our economy and preserve our future. We need to reform our energy policies, and I believe the Senate's bill moves us in the right direction."
The bill promotes renewable energies by including initiatives such as updating the Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard to reach the goal of 20 percent renewable power resources by 2020. It also requires distribution companies to enter into long-term contracts for renewable energy to help renewable energy suppliers secure their place in the supply network.
The Senate version, however, dropped the $2,000 income tax-exemption Dimasi wanted for taxpayers who buy hybrid vehicles; Murray also resisted an attempt to weaken the Ocean Sanctuaries Act to make room for the controversial 120-turbine wind farm in Buzzard's Bay.
The act establishes new energy-efficiency standards by requiring distribution companies to obtain energy supplies using the method that costs the least. Known as "least-cost procurement," this change is designed to make energy efficiency, which officials say is two-thirds cheaper than building new power, compete favorably with new power generation. It will also help limit and reduce energy consumption.
For consumers, this reform seeks to level the playing field between utilities and ratepayers by strengthening the attorney general's power to act on behalf of ratepayers.
Supporters say the measure won't cost the state anything but there are concerns by some that power companies will pass on the costs of complying with it to ratepayers.
Senate Changes:
- Murray said the state's fiscal condition isn't good enough to afford tax breaks for hybrid car buyers; the Senate does not include that House provision.
- Eliminates the House initiative to remove environmental protections preventing the construction of a 120-turbine wind farm in Buzzards Bay, and instead inserts the Senate's Ocean Management bill that passed unanimously in September.
- Keeps the Renewable Energy Trust Fund under the control of the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative. The trust, funded by a 25-cent tax on utility bills, would be moved to the governor's control in the House version.
- Includes language authorizing the eligibility of coal gasification as an alternative energy source with two safeguards absent from the House bill. They are the permanent sequestration of carbon-dioxide emissions and a requirement that net emissions are no greater than those from the cleanest gas facilities.
The GREEN Act reform package also dovetails with other Senate energy initiatives, including the development of cellulosic ethanol produced with woodchips, cranberries and algae. Sen. Marc Pacheco,D-Taunton, has also proposed comprehensive climate change legislation, which the Senate is currently working on and hopes to bring to the floor later this spring.
