By the time you read this newsletter, we will know if H5060, An Act driving clean energy and offshore wind, was signed into law by the Governor. This bill builds on the sweeping bill titled An Act creating a next-generation roadmap for Massachusetts climate policy signed into law in March 2021.
These two bills put Massachusetts in the vanguard of states addressing the impacts of climate change. The roadmap bill provided the framework; this session’s bill has added the “muscle” with specific provisions:
- increased green energy procurement primarily from wind, but also from solar, storage and geothermal sources
- larger incentives and “point of purchase” rebates for electric vehicle purchases
- inclusion of non-fossil-fuel-based programs (e.g. air and ground source heat pumps) as part of the Mass Save incentive program
- grid modernization
- removal of wood-burning biomass plants from qualifying as “renewable energy”
- allows for 10 towns to pilot fossil-free new and major renovations programs
- special protections for environmental justice populations/communities
H5060 is the kind of specific, bold climate action needed to address the devastating impacts of climate change already evident. We can celebrate this effort but need to be aware that the work of holding back climate change can’t end with this bill this session, given the delay to act in the past and the deadly force of climate change already underway. The League has acted to protect the environment since its inception. We can’t stop now.