New regulations that will affect the siting and permitting of energy facilities in our state are being debated now by the State Senate as part of omnibus clean energy legislation, S.2829 — An Act upgrading the grid and protecting ratepayers. The House will be releasing its own bill too, and then a Joint Conference Committee will meet to reconcile the difference. So it’s not too late to email members of the senate. We will have an update on the house debate begins as well.
“Pause the Permitting”
SEND AN EMAIL TO YOUR STATE SENATORS ON NEW ENERGY PERMITTING BILL TODAY
The State Senate is debating a 92-page energy bill that will regulate the future siting and permitting of electric generating and battery storage proposals across the state for decades to come.
Please take a moment and send an email to these key Senate lawmakers today to express your concerns about this legislation.
Here are the Senators we recommend you contact:
Jo.Comerford@masenate.gov
Karen.Spilka@masenate.gov
mike.barrett@masenate.gov
paul.mark@masenate.gov
Mark.Montigny@masenate.gov
Marc.Pacheco@masenate.gov
julian.cyr@masenate.gov
Here is a sample letter you can edit, cut & paste, and send:
Dear Senator ___________________________
There are many aspirational goals in the new Senate energy legislation you are voting on this week, and a myriad of new divisions and regulations to come. But I am asking you to “Pause the Permitting” because it will take several years just to put this new regulatory framework in place. In the meantime, we will have:
- no statewide site suitability map or regs to show where good sites are, and what sites developers should avoid such as our forests
- no intervenor funding, which leaves cities and towns without the funding and expertise to be a participant in DPU dockets
- no repeal of the Dover amendment (Chapter 40A, section 3) which allows large and small solar and battery storage to bypass local zoning.
- no local control authority over large scale solar andbattery storage installations in environmentally sensitive areas in our town (as is being proposed in Wendell)
- no role for municipalities to aggregate local end users into micro-grids. Municipalities and end users have an important role to play in helping to manage our future demand through conservation, rather than to just chase demand higher and higher.
- no judicial appeal rights if state regulators do not accept our “recommendations” about siting and permitting.
Until new statutes are in place, regulations are implemented, and new staffers are doing their job, decarbonization will continue to mean deforestation, and energy installations in the wrong place and of the wrong size.
The state should pause further permitting of these projects until the new statutes and regulations are implemented, because the current regulatory system has no rationale, and crushes the capacity of small towns to respond to environmental and safety concerns. We have neither the staff expertise nor the funding to take on these energy corporations. If they don’t like our local reviews, they can appeal to the state and ask for an override.
We understand the urgency of reducing carbon emissions, but with only the current regulatory framework in place today, we are wasting time and money–and damaging the environment– battling sites that are clearly unsuitable.
There are a number of commendable initiatives in this bill—like rate reduction for low-income ratepayers—but we will make serious environmental mistakes by allowing energy companies to exploit their ability to build big and build fast. If this new regulatory environment is so good, then it’s worth waiting to get the guardrails and protections up before the energy companies do further damage.
We need your help to prevent the small towns in your district from being entirely overrun by this process. You can amend this bill to add:
“provided further, all electric generating and battery storage projects currently before the DPU or the EFSB shall be held in a pending status until the implementation of provisions of this statute, and its regulations, are finalized, as determined by the General Court.”
Thank you,
Your Name, Town, Phone