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Fri, 12th Aug 2022 9:28:00 |
Massachusetts’ Republican governor signs far-reaching climate bill into law |
Massachusetts’ Republican governor, Charlie Baker, signed a sweeping climate and energy bill into law on Thursday, approving an array of policies intended to advance the state’s goal of reaching net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
As the law’s name suggests, “An Act Driving Clean Energy and Offshore Wind” includes significant provisions to boost the development of offshore wind, such as granting access to state funds. The law requires that the state’s electric utilities procure 5,600 megawatts of new offshore wind capacity by 2027, up from a former goal of 4,000 megawatts. It also removes a controversial price cap that required every new wind project to offer cheaper electricity than the previous one — a mechanism that critics argued was stifling economic development.
Other parts of the bill shore up the electric grid, decarbonize the Boston-area transit system by 2040, and require all new cars sold in Massachusetts to be zero-emissions by 2035.
Among the bill’s most contentious elements is a section that makes it legal for 10 municipalities to ban fossil fuel-powered appliances in new buildings. Although these bans are common in cities across the West Coast, attempts by Massachusetts cities to follow suit have been blocked by a law that empowers a state board to make most decisions about buildings’ energy use.
This is the part of the climate bill that almost sank it. Baker repeatedly expressed concerns that banning fossil fuel heating would amount to “exclusionary zoning,” limiting cities’ ability to build affordable housing. “That part of the bill gives me agita,” he told reporters earlier this week.
Baker ultimately signed the bill, in part because he valued the clean energy advancements and sustainable jobs it would create for Massachusetts. He may also have been swayed by stipulations included in the final legislation, including a requirement that cities meet affordable housing quotas before they can ban fossil fuel infrastructure in new buildings. The law also precludes life sciences labs and health care facilities from being affected by bans.
David Mendels, a co-founder of the advocacy group ZeroCarbonMA, said that seven municipalities — including Cambridge, Concord, and Brookline, whose 2019 bylaw made it the first community on the East Coast to ban gas hookups in new construction before the state struck the law down — meet the affordable housing stipulations and are ready to move forward with their fossil fuel heating bans. The other three cities may soon follow, and even more cities could apply for eligibility to do the same. He added, however, that new construction only accounts for a small percentage of Massachusetts’ housing stock, and that additional policies are needed to replace gas-powered appliances and heating systems in existing buildings.
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