Massachusetts聽governor Charlie Baker yesterday (14 January)聽 rejected a bipartisan compromise climate policy bill that would have reshaped how the state plans to achieve its target of net-zero emissions by 2050.
The new compromise bill (S 2995) would have created statewide emissions limit targets set for every five years 鈥 instead of the current ten-yearly review and increased its offshore wind target by an additional 2.4GW.
However, in his letter vetoing the bill,Baker stated that analysis carried out by his own department suggested it would cost Massachusetts $6 billion more to reduce carbon emissions by 50% below 1990 levels by 2030, as set out in the bill, rather than the 45% in his plan.
In his letter, he also stated that bill could create new 鈥渞isks鈥 by 鈥渋mposing undue expense and unnecessary economic impact on Massachusetts households and businesses鈥 at a time when Massachusetts needed 鈥渕ore affordable housing鈥.
Baker said said his administration's 2050 decarbonisation roadmap, provided a 鈥渂alanced clean energy supply anchored by offshore wind鈥, which would be able to help the state achieve net zero by 2050 鈥渋n a cost-effective manner while supporting job creation in Massachusetts鈥.
The bill was passed shortly before the end of the two-year legislative session. "Had this bill been presented to me with more time while the legislature was still in session, I would have returned it with amendments to address the concerns set out in this letter," Baker wrote.
The bill is expected to be resubmitted at a later date.
So far, Massachusetts utilities have agreed to purchase more than 1.6GW of offshore wind power, made up of 1287MW SouthCoast Wind 1 (formerly Mayflower Wind) project and the 800MW Vineyard Wind site 鈥 806MW Vineyard Wind 1 and {{Vineyard Wind 1 phase II-4295d688-7517-6f16-9892-d9a758c9ae2a}} 鈥 although permitting delays have slowed down construction of the latter.
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