After negotiations extending well past the end of the formal legislative session, Massachusetts lawmakers are nearing passage of a wide-ranging climate and energy bill including provisions to expedite clean energy siting and permitting, reform gas utility regulation and authorize the procurement of 5,000 MW of energy storage resources.

The 139-page bill, dubbed “An act promoting a clean energy grid, advancing equity and protecting ratepayers,” passed in the Senate on Oct. 24. The bill now sits in the House, where Republicans have stalled its passage by calling for a roll-call vote. Gov. Maura Healey (D) has indicated her support for the bill.

The major focus of the legislative session — and one of the key components of the resulting bill — has been the overhaul of the state’s energy permitting and siting processes.

The bill would consolidate state and local permitting for renewable energy projects and grid infrastructure into a single review process and would cap the review timeline at 15 months for large projects and 12 months for smaller projects.

The permitting reforms “are taking a process that has gone seven to 10 years and bringing it down to 12 to 15 months,” said Rep. Jeff Roy (D), the lead House negotiator on the bill.

Long permitting and siting timelines have slowed the development of clean energy in the state, and reforming the process has been a key priority for a broad coalition of interests.

Following the publication of recommendations from the Massachusetts Commission on Energy Infrastructure Siting and Permitting, top legislators and Healey’s administration reached a general agreement on the permitting language, which was included in separate bills passed in the Senate in late June and House in mid-July. (See Mass. Commission Issues Recs on Energy Project Siting, Permitting.)

In the updated process, the state’s Energy Facilities Siting Board (EFSB) would coordinate and issue consolidated permits for all large projects, which would encompass all required state and local permits. For smaller projects not in the EFSB’s jurisdiction, the bill would allow developers to challenge the denial of a local permit to the EFSB, which could overrule the local decision. (See Mass. Legislature Faces Looming Deadline to Pass Permitting Reform.)

Dan Dolan, president of the New England Power Generators Association, expressed strong support for the bill’s siting and permitting provisions.

“I appreciate that siting remains the centerpiece of this legislation,” Dolan said. “It is a testament to the commitment from the governor to get this done that the legislature is taking extraordinary procedural steps to bring this over the finish line.”

While the permitting and siting agreement largely was in place in time for the end of formal session on July 31, the Senate and the House could not overcome their differences on several key issues prior to the deadline. (See Mass. Lawmakers Fail to Pass Permitting, Gas Utility Reform.)

However, lawmakers continued to work behind the scenes to reach a compromise throughout the summer and into the fall and now say they are happy with the bill that has emerged.

The Senate reconvened a formal session to pass the bill 38-2 on Oct. 24. While the House leadership has attempted to pass the bill via informal session, House Republicans have stalled its passage by challenging the presence of a quorum. Despite the short-term challenges, House leaders have expressed optimism they eventually will send the bill to Healey.

Gas Utility Reform

One of the key disagreements that held up the bill in July centered around how aggressively the state should move away from natural gas.

“We had some differences in opinion as to what should happen with the decommissioning of the gas system,” Roy told RTO Insider. “We thought that the Senate was moving too quickly to decommission gas, so we had differences there that we eventually ironed out. Once we ironed out those differences, it made it easier to come together on everything else.”

Throughout the negotiations, Sen. Mike Barrett (D), the lead Senate negotiator on the bill, emphasized that the permitting and siting reforms could lead to an expensive expansion of the electrical system and therefore must be coupled with efforts to rein in costs from the gas system.

Ultimately, the Senate and House agreed to add language amending the definition of a gas distribution company, explicitly authorizing gas utilities to “make, sell or distribute utility-scale non-emitting thermal energy, including networked geothermal and deep geothermal energy.”

The bill also would update the state’s gas system enhancement program (GSEP), which is intended to reduce leaks from the gas system. GSEP costs have increased in recent years — with an expected total price tag of about $34 billion according to one consultant — spurring concerns from climate and consumer advocates that the new pipes installed under the program will become stranded assets.

While the existing GSEP statute centers around pipe replacement, the bill would authorize pipe retirement as part of the program.

Barrett added that the legislation would amend the “right to gas” in state law, which allows customers to petition for gas service.

This right “was the primary tool used to keep gas infrastructure in place, even as people have started to migrate to cleaner alternatives like heat pumps,” Barrett said, noting that right could enable a single customer to hold up the retirement of an entire segment of the gas distribution system.

“We’ve changed that,” Barrett told RTO Insider. “You can no longer be the hold-out on your block — if you do hold out, you could keep the entire block’s worth of natural gas infrastructure in place at great expense to ratepayers, even if everyone else has migrated to something better.”

The statutory changes were developed in coordination with the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities (DPU), which ruled in 2023 that the decarbonization of the state’s gas network should center around electrification. (See Massachusetts Moves to Limit New Gas Infrastructure.)

Under the new rules, the DPU would be able to consider the public interest, “including the public interest in reducing greenhouse gas emissions,” when evaluating petitions for gas service.

Cumulative Impact Analysis

The bill would require project developers to submit a cumulative impact analysis, which would consider “any existing environmental burden and public health consequences impacting a specific geographical area in which a facility, large clean energy infrastructure facility or small clean energy infrastructure facility is proposed.”

This requirement was a key priority of environmental justice advocates in the state, who said it is a necessary safeguard to ensure the new permitting and siting process does not exacerbate existing energy infrastructure burdens on vulnerable communities in the state.

While advocates previously expressed concern that the cumulative impact analysis definition included in a prior iteration of the bill fell short, the new bill features “a robust definition of a cumulative impact analysis,” said Claire Karl Müller, coordinator of the Mass Power Forward coalition.

“We got to a good definition through really persistent, thoughtful advocacy,” Müller said. “We’re excited about the bill — it has some really good pieces.”

Clean Energy Procurement

The legislation would authorize a massive procurement of energy storage resources — it directs the state’s electric utilities to contract for 5,000 MW of storage by mid-2030, including 750 MW of 10- to 24-hour storage and 750 MW of storage with a duration greater than 24 hours. The minimum storage duration for the procurement would be set at four hours.

For offshore wind, the legislation would increase the potential length of long-duration contracts, allowing contracts from 15-30 years. Offshore wind contracts currently are capped at 20 years in the state.

It also would enable the state to coordinate with other New England States “to consider competitive solicitations for long-term clean energy generation,” including generation from the region’s two existing nuclear plants.

This provision comes during ongoing discussions about Massachusetts buying power from the Millstone Nuclear Power Plant, which is propped up by Connecticut, in exchange for the state buying power associated with the recent multistate offshore wind solicitation. (See Multistate Offshore Wind Solicitation Lands 2,878 MW for Mass., RI.)

This language also would enable the state to contract for onshore renewable energy in northern Maine. Government officials in Maine are preparing to issue procurements for renewable generation and associated transmission in the northern part of the state. Massachusetts previously committed to buying power from an onshore wind solicitation which later was terminated by Maine. (See Long Road Still Ahead for Aroostook Transmission Project)

While the Senate advocated for a more expansive procurement proposal to give the Department of Energy Resources significant latitude to procure clean energy as needed, these changes ultimately were left out of the compromise bill.

“That’s a compromise in which the House won some important concessions,” Barrett said.

Electric Vehicles

Regarding electric vehicles, the bill directs state agencies to conduct a 10-year forecast of EV demand, enabling the evaluation of sites for charging hubs. After the assessments are complete, the electric utilities would be required to submit infrastructure plans to meet demand.

The legislation would authorize municipalities to buy chargers and electric vehicles, including electric school buses.

It also would direct the state Division of Standards, which regulates gas stations, to develop regulations for electric vehicle chargers “to make sure these charging stations are delivering what they say,” Roy said.

Odds and Ends

The wide-ranging bill includes several other notable provisions, including:

• • Requiring electric utilities to consider advanced transmission technologies (ATTs) and other non-wires alternatives when planning new infrastructure and directing the DPU to investigate the use of ATTs.
  • Adding fusion energy to the state’s definition of clean energy.
  • Creating a commission to study how the clean energy transition is impacting the fossil fuel workforce.
  • Authorizing regulators to update appliance standards “to facilitate the deployment of flexible demand technologies.

There are several key proposals not included in the bill, including regulations targeting predatory competitive electricity supply companies, updates to the state bottle bill and a requirement for commuter rail electrification.

While the Senate and the state Attorney General’s Office have pushed for a full ban on retail third-party electricity suppliers, the House has argued for a more scaled-back reform package.

Larry Chretien, executive director of the Green Energy Consumers Alliance, expressed disappointment about the lack of action regarding competitive retail suppliers, and said reform will be a key priority for the next session.

“Every day that goes by there are more people that are going to be overcharged,” Chretien said.