climate

Massachusetts Climate The Final Push

The planet is burning. What we must do immediately.

Our planet is in a true Climate Emergency. We cannot blame the others, we cannot wait for someone to fix this, we cannot ignore it. In Massachusetts we have not passed a climate-related build for a long time because they can get away with it.

Finally this year, we got an ok bill in the Massachusetts Senate, and a worse bill in the Massachusetts House. In the next week, the two bills will be reconciled in the committee before (hopefully) becoming a law. We must act to ensure the bill that comes out is the strongest one - and that it does come out. The bill can still die in the committee!

The House and Senate have each appointed three members to a conference committee to work with the main climate bills passed by each chamber, H.4933 and S.2500. (They are Reps. Golden, Haddad, and Jones, and Senators Barret, Creem, and O’Connor.)

The conference committee is limited to what is already in either H.4933 or S.2500. Such a conference is in large part a negotiation between the two chambers. Such negotiations can even cross over from one conference committee to another. They typically take place in closed session, behind a veil of secrecy.

Just like a general election is important, pushing for the better bill in the committee is important. If you live in Massachusetts, please email and call your state representative and senator to tell them you want the bill to be strong.

You can find who represents you in Massachusetts here. Then read these two phone call and email scripts for this bill under consideration

Here is an email I have sent to my state representative Marjorie Decker Marjorie.Decker@mahouse.gov and my state senator Patricia Lehlen Patricia.Jehlen@masenate.gov

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Subject: Strong climate bill

Dear [Representative Decker | Senator Lehlen],

Thank you for being a strong advocate for climate and for passing meaningful climate legislation. I and many of your constituents have been advocating for such legislation for a long long time. I share the priorities of climate organizations like 350Mass, Massachusetts Power Forward, and Massachusetts Climate Action Network. In particular, I urge you to contact the committee's members to include the strong parts of both bills in the final legislation:

- Includes Amendment #52 to the Roadmap Bill, which codifies the definition of Environmental Justice. It’s crucial that Environmental Justice communities are recognized and protected as part of a statewide climate solution.

- Amend the House’s proposed new greenhouse gas emissions standard for Municipal Light Plants to include only resources that are qualified under the state's Renewable Portfolio Standard or the new Clean Energy Standard.

- Retain the language in S.2500 that directs the Board of Building Regulations and Standards to develop a Net Zero building code, as well as Amendment #8 to the Roadmap Bill, which adds 4 energy efficiency seats to the BBRS. This gives towns and cities across the Commonwealth the option to require a Net Zero standard for all new construction.

- Require investor-owned utilities to take climate into account when determining the cost-effectiveness of their programs, as outlined in Sections 17-25 of S.2500.

- Timeline: The Senate bill better reflects the urgency of the climate crisis, requiring the first regulations to take effect by 1/1/2022.

Thanks again for your leadership on climate this session, and for reaching out to your colleagues to ensure that MA’s final climate package prioritizes Environmental Justice, clean energy for municipal light plants, and a Net Zero stretch code.
Climate solutions are public health solutions – and the Commonwealth needs both NOW.

Your Constituent,

[Name]
[Address]

If you live in Massachusetts, please join me in this action, find your legislator, and send both the representative and the senator an email above (probably edit it slightly to make sure it matches your concerns). If you can - call them and leave a message too!

  • email
  • call
  • send this post URL to your friends, colleagues, family members

The clock is ticking.