Boston, MA: Yesterday, the Massachusetts legislature passed a landmark climate omnibus bill,  reestablishing the state as a climate leader. The legislation includes major clean energy siting and permitting reforms, commitments to develop energy storage and clean energy including offshore wind, historic reforms to phase out gas use in buildings, and cumulative impacts language developed by the state environmental justice table.

“This legislation unlocks enormous potential to rapidly and responsibly build the modern, reliable electric grid we need to meet our climate goals. We cannot meet our emissions reduction targets with a slow, unresponsive, and inequitable energy siting system,” said David Melly, Environmental League of Massachusetts’s Legislative Director. “The omnibus climate bill provides our state, communities, and developers with tools to deploy new renewable resources, shift buildings and transportation from fossil fuels to clean power, and plan for a net-zero future.”

“As President, Donald Trump at every turn made decisions to enrich his oil industry friends over the health and safety of everyday people,” said Bill Holland, LCV’s Vice President of State Policy and Advocacy. “But his return to the White House has sparked a renewed resolve from state and local leaders to pick up the mantle of climate action. Massachusetts has set the bar high for the kind of climate action we must see from the state level. This is just the start.”

At the beginning of Donald Trump’s first term in 2017, 1% of the country lived in a place committed to 100% clean energy. Now, thanks to ambitious state and local action, that number is over 40%. 

Highlights of the climate bill include:

• Reforms to accelerate the deployment of renewable energy including streamlining project approvals by authorizing the Energy Facilities Siting Board to coordinate and issue consolidated permits for all large projects.
• Massachusetts’ Environmental Justice Table’s definition of Cumulative Impact Analysis.
• Reforms to laws governing natural gas designed to make it easier for utilities to provide alternatives to natural gas for heating, and provisions that allow for the retirement of gas pipes.
• Procurement of up to 5000MW of energy storage resources in short-, medium-, and long-durations.

Additionally, the Massachusetts Legislature passed a separate climatetech bill that provides $400 million in capital resources to the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center to utilize over the next ten years to build the state’s climate tech industry. Half of these funds are authorized to support climatetech innovation and deployment and half will support the offshore wind industry. The legislation also established a new tax credit up to  $300 million and incentives for the burgeoning climatetech sector.