Massachusetts State Senator
In a statement, the bill’s chief negotiators, Representative Thomas Golden of Lowell and Senator Michael Barrett of Lexington, called the bill “the strongest effort of its kind in the country.”
“This is focused, serious, and specific,” Barrett said. “It won’t allow us to look away when we fall short. It keeps the work of reducing carbon emissions squarely in front of us. This is no-excuses law-making.”
The bill’s chief negotiators — Representative Thomas Golden of Lowell and Senator Michael Barrett of Lexington — called the proposal “the strongest effort of its kind in the country” and the first major update to the 2008 Global Warming Solutions Act.
“This bill is a climate toolkit, assembled over the course of months, to protect our residents, and the beautiful place we call home, from the worsening of an existential crisis,” they said. “Its particulars owe much to the advocacy of thousands of citizen activists in Massachusetts. To these activists, we say thank you. We heard you.”
Emissions would have to fall to at least 50% of 1990 levels by 2030 and 75% of 1990 levels by 2040, but the bill also calls for interim goals every five years.
“An underlying idea driving the particulars of this bill is that the need to do something needs to be front and center, more than has been in the last 10 years,” Sen. Michael Barrett, a Lexington Democrat and key negotiator on the bill, said in a phone interview. “We tried to write a bill that would present people in Massachusetts with a need to change. I believe that a successful adjustment to climate change will involve transformations big and small.”
A slate of controversial clean energy policies is set to advance in Massachusetts this year after state lawmakers passed sweeping climate legislation last night and the governor’s office released new plans.
On Sunday evening, a bipartisan legislative committee announced a compromise on a long-debated climate package that would codify the state’s goal of zeroing out CO2 emissions by 2050, with new interim targets every five years. By 2030, emissions would have to fall by 50% over 1990 levels, followed by a 75% decrease by 2040. The legislation passed the Massachusetts Legislature last night by large margins in both chambers.
State Sen. Michael Barrett, a Democrat who co-chaired the bipartisan team of negotiators for the bill, said the cities of Boston and Cambridge had voiced interest in adopting codes that require net-zero emissions for new buildings.
Massachusetts lawmakers have sent to the governor’s desk a bill that aims to chart the state’s path to net-zero emissions by 2050.
“This bill is a climate toolkit, assembled over the course of months, to protect our residents, and the beautiful place we call home, from the worsening of an existential crisis,” the co-chairs of the Conference Committee on Climate of the Massachusetts General Court Sen. Mike Barrett and Rep. Thomas Golden said in a joint statement. The toolkit approach “focuses relentlessly on the work of reducing greenhouse gases, creating jobs, and protecting the vulnerable.”
Passed by the House with a vote of 145-9 on January 4, the bill (S.2995) would codify the state’s target of net-zero emissions by 2050 and set interim targets of cutting emissions 50% by 2030 and 75% by 2040 from 1990 levels.
Massachusetts lawmakers approved legislation Monday to overhaul the state’s climate laws, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, create renewable energy jobs and protect poorer communities that can be at higher risk from pollution.
A highlight of the bill is the goal of attaining a net-zero greenhouse gas emission limit by 2050 in part by setting new statewide limits every five years to help the state reach the goal.
Reducing emissions to net zero is the contribution Massachusetts must make to the nation’s, and the world’s, larger climate effort. No question, doing our part is a big lift. With the tools the Legislature brings together here, we can construct the response we need and provide a blueprint to other states.The Next-Gen Roadmap directs the Department of Public Utilities, regulator of our natural gas and electric power companies, to give equal weight to greenhouse gas reductions and system safety alongside the traditional — and imperative — attention to affordability and stability of supply.
The NextGen Roadmap bill will step up the pace of our collective effort to slow climate change. This is the strongest effort of its kind in the country.The Next Gen Roadmap bill is a climate toolkit. The tools we’ve selected integrate seamlessly with the Global Warming Solutions Act. We give the force of law to a greenhouse gas limit for 2050 of net zero emissions. We set statewide emissions limits every 5yrs & commission reports on what each plan is actually accomplishing.
After six months of private talks, legislative negotiators on Sunday afternoon reached an agreement on a major bill to accelerate the state’s pace toward addressing the global problem of climate change.
The bill (S 2995) would establish in state law a “net zero” greenhouse gas emissions limit for 2050 and establish statewide emissions limits every five years over the next three decades. Within that plan, the bill creates mandatory emissions sublimits for six sectors of the economy: electric power, transportation, commercial and industrial heating and cooling, residential heating and cooling, industrial processes, and natural gas distribution and service.
The bill’s chief negotiators – Rep. Thomas Golden of Lowell and Sen. Michael Barrett of Lexington – called the proposal “the strongest effort of its kind in the country” and the first major update to the 2008 Global Warming Solutions Act.
No corner of the state’s energy industry seems to go untouched in the climate bill passed by the Massachusetts House and Senate on Monday, with just over one day left in the two-year legislative session.
Senator Mike Barrett, one of the lead negotiators of the bill, said creative builders can find ways to offset natural gas usage, such as through solar power, for example. But NAIOP blasted the bill in a statement, saying it threatens the state’s “precarious economic recovery from the effects of the global crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.” Of particular concern: the energy-intensive labs needed by life sciences companies, a proverbial golden goose for Greater Boston.
THE MASSACHUSETTS LEGISLATURE is set to clarify a confusing and outdated tax law, which had been stymying solar projects around the state.
A compromise hammered out between the state’s assessors and solar developers has made it into the final version of a climate change bill. The bill was reported out of a conference committee on Sunday and is expected to be passed by the Legislature Monday and sent to Gov. Charlie Baker.
SPRINGFIELD — Power from wood-to-energy plants — like the long-proposed Palmer Renewable Energy in East Springfield — won’t qualify as “green power” for municipal power utilities for at least five years under new rules announced over the weekend by state lawmakers.
A conference committee of state senators and representatives also called on Gov. Charlie Baker and his administration to complete a new study examining the impact of these biomass plants on greenhouse emissions, global climate change and public health. The conference report – meant to hammer out differences between the Senate and House bills passed in 2020 – will go to lawmakers for a vote before the term ends Tuesday.
The climate change bill includes a host of provisions that spell out how the state should move forward and on what terms, but perhaps its biggest impact is that it gives those terms the force and durability of law.
“Without the force of law, it can all evaporate with the next governor,” said Sen. Michael Barrett of Lexington, the lead Senate negotiator on the bill, in a phone interview.
The Massachusetts Senate and Statehouse recently gave final approval to the state’s budget for the current fiscal year, which included amendments written by State Sen. Mike Barrett, D-Waltham, aimed at funneling $225,000 to programs in the city.
