House Speaker Ron Mariano and the Massachusetts House want to supercharge the wind energy industry in the Commonwealth by levying new fees on fossil fuels to invest in cleaner power produced off our shores.
"What oil did for Texas, wind can do for Massachusetts. We have enough wind energy out there that can power every home and every business in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts," said Franklin Rep. Jeffrey Roy, the House chairman of the Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy Committee and key author of the bill.
Mariano and Roy's wind bill is seen by Democrats as a key piece of the state's strategy to meet it's long-term emissions goals.
Under state law, Massachusetts must by 2030 reduce carbon emissions by 50% from 1990 levels. That target moves to a 75% reduction in emissions by 2040 and 85% of 1990 levels by 2050.
To get there, the state's electricity supply must shift from being generated by polluting fossil fuels to clean energy sources like wind, solar and hydro energy. After Maine voters rejected a plan by Massachusetts and other northeast states to buy and transport hydropower from Canada, the Bay state was left looking for new ways to increase green power production.
"We happen to be located in the perfect space because the most robust waters in the contiguous United States are 14 miles south of Martha's Vineyard.," Roy said.
Mariano's bill empowers state clean energy overseers to raise money through utility rate fees and establish incentives for wind energy industry growth, job pipeline programs and infrastructure construction.
"We have tax incentives in there. We have grants in there. We have a dedication to developing the skilled workforce that they're going to need. We happen to be a state that has some of the top universities and research facilities in the world," Roy told GBH News after the bill passed the House 144 to 12.
An estimated $23 million could be raised from new fees on gas ratepayers, pegged by lawmakers at around $16 a year per household. Those new funds would be invested by the Clean Energy Center into the burgeoning clean energy industry, marked to provide tax breaks for wind companies or to stimulate other programs to enhance clean energy technology in Massachusetts. Lawmakers abandoned a previous provision that would have raised fees on electric customers.
The bill would also address concerns from the commercial fishing industry that deep sea turbines could disrupt their catch.
Republicans have objected to the bill's provision eliminating a price cap on how much wind energy can cost for consumers. Democrats say allowing clean energy to be more expensive than traditional sources of power can help the new industry grow more rapidly.
