Renewable energy compromise filed
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Under the law, energy could be procured from hydro plants such as those in Canada, such as Hydro Quebec.
House and Senate negotiators have finalized an energy bill that will require utilities to procure large quantities of hydro-electric and offshore wind power to meet the state's energy demand in the coming years, but liberal factions of the Senate are upset with the compromise and threatening to vote against the deal.
The final compromise was signed by five of the six conferees, with Sen. Marc Pacheco of Taunton withholding his support. The conference report (H 4568) was filed with House clerks at 9:30 p.m.
Rep. Thomas Golden of Lowell, the co-chair of the Energy Committee, said the bill was more than just a procurement of large-scale hydro and wind power, pointing to sections that also encourage small hydro with dams and energy storage.
"This should be a celebration," Golden said. "This is the beginning to having a greener energy future for the commonwealth."
Pacheco may try to persuade his colleagues to reject the deal in the final hours of the session, but one senior Senate lawmaker said the Taunton Democrat doesn't have the votes.
The bill, according to Sen. Benjamin Downing, calls for the procurement of 1,600 megawatts of both offshore wind and hydropower that would likely be imported from Canada or upstate New York.
Downing said the bill also contains language promoting gas leak repairs and the development of energy storage technology, but it does not include Senate language increasing the Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard (RPS), which requires utilities to obtain a minimum amount of their electricity from renewable sources like solar and wind.
The Senate had proposed to double the current rate of growth in the RPS standard from 1 percent a year to 2 percent a year, but the section was dropped from the final compromise.
The conference committee also dropped Senate-backed language that would have banned utilities from seeking rate increases from customers to front the cost of building new natural gas pipelines. The omission, according to sources, has contributed to the anger and frustration among some members of the Senate who oppose the expansion of natural gas and sought the protections for consumers.
In the hours since the News Service first reported a deal and details began to trickle out, Senate leaders have been working behind the scenes to sooth the discontent over the final compromise, which is being viewed by some as short of comprehensive energy bill that had been promised earlier in the session.
"There's definitely going to be an energy bill next year," said one senior ranking Senate official, who acknowledged that senators were being asked to put aside their disappointment in order to get something done before the midnight deadline.
Many senators, including Downing, had hoped to see the Legislature go further this session to promote energy efficiency and other strategies that they view as critical to meeting demand and the state's clean energy and carbon emission reduction mandates.
The conference committee also adopted the House's preferred language that would exclude the long-fought, controversial Cape Wind project in Nantucket Sound from bidding for the long-term offshore wind contracts.
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