by Jess Nahigian, State Political Director, jess.nahigian@sierraclub.org
With thanks to John Prusinski from Berkshire Environmental Action Team, Caitlin Peale Sloan from Conservation Law Foundation, and Dan Friedman, Sarah Krame, and Amelia Koch from Sierra Club
Detailed list of bill provisions: S.2967 provisions list: Climate Bill 2024
Detailed siting provisions: S.2967 siting provisions: Climate Bill 2024
- Battery Storage: Enables the Department of Energy Resources to create a statewide energy storage incentive program and creates a new energy storage procurement program, similar to our offshore wind procurement program.
- Buildings: Strengthens state building evaluations for emissions reduction and energy efficiency, creates an embodied carbon reduction plan, and revises the Board of Building Regulations and Standards’ mandate to include emissions and embodied carbon considerations.
- Gas Measures: Expands the definition of "gas company" to include non-emitting thermal energy like geothermal and requires the Public Utility Commission (Department of Public Utilities) to consider climate goals, alternatives, and ratepayer risks when approving gas system expansions. Changes gas leak repair program’s focus from pipe replacement to emission-reducing remediation, including retirement.
- Environmental Justice and Equity: Codifies an Office of Environmental Justice and Equity
- Labor Standards: Requires clean energy funding applicants to demonstrate commitment to worker diversity, apprenticeship programs, and fair wages, giving preference to those with proven labor harmony and participation in certified programs; includes measures to encourage stronger labor standards in procurements
- New Technology: Allows advanced metering, transmission, and infrastructure upgrades and promotes transmission system enhancements.
- Procurement: Extends regional clean energy procurement timelines. Also see battery storage and dirty energy and false solutions.
- Rates: Mandates discounted utility rates for moderate-income consumers and sets eligibility guidelines for these rates.
- Renewables: Extends offshore wind contract terms to 30 years, allows more solar in historic districts, and encourages solar canopy expansion and cross-territory electric bill credit sales
- Siting: See below - this is half of the bill.
- Transportation: Expands EV Coordinating Council roles to oversee charging planning and deployment, including for medium and heavy-duty trucking. Directs electric utilities to create and implement plans for more charging, cuts red tape for public school bus purchases, and increases consumer-facing infrastructure like wayfinding signage and pole-mounted charging.
- Dirty energy and false solutions: Allows the state to procure nuclear energy in New England that was operating before 2011, increases incentives for anaerobic digestion facilities and waste energy, broadens the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center's definition of “clean energy” to include carbon dioxide removal and nuclear fission, adds carbon sequestration to the Center’s responsibilities, and mandates a study on carbon dioxide removal prospects within the state.
- Other: Requires the Massachusetts Port Authority to promote reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, Environmental Justice principles and environmental protection and resiliency, which is important to stopping expansion of private jets.
Siting: The bill revamps the Massachusetts Energy Facilities Siting Board (EFSB) to hasten the buildout of renewable energy and electric transmission and distribution infrastructure, effective July 2026. It broadens the EFSB's authority to consider emissions, among other things, and to oversee a consolidated permitting process for qualifying clean energy infrastructure projects. Large clean energy infrastructure projects, defined by certain thresholds, will be subject to EFSB review and will be subject to pre-approval community consultation requirements and environmental site suitability screening requirements. External stakeholders such as municipalities and affected groups will be eligible for financial and administrative support to provide input. Projects will receive automatic approval (with standardized stipulations according to the project type) if decisions aren't issued within 15 months. Small clean energy infrastructure projects, defined by certain thresholds, will be subject to a consolidated local review process, with qualifying projects eligible to transfer over to EFSB oversight upon the project or municipality’s request. These projects will receive automatic approval (with standardized stipulations according to the project type) after 12 months if no decision is issued. The bill includes support for public participation and the creation of a new data dashboard to increase transparency. It also allows for input into creating many of these standards, including a cumulative impact analysis.