Verrill Dana Hosts Important Meeting on Massachusetts's New Wind Power Legislation

On July 22, the Environmental Business Council of New England’s Government Affairs Committee and Wind Energy Committee held a joint meeting at the offices of Verrill Dana, LLP in Boston.  Verrill Dana attorney Harlan Doliner, Chair of the Government Affairs Committee, facilitated an open-forum discussion of the important regulatory, environmental, and political issues involving the wind power siting legislation passed just days ago by both houses of the Massachusetts Legislature.  (Click here for Senate Bill No. 2260 and here for House Bill No. 4886, both in PDF.)  The meeting was well attended by EBC members, government officials, representatives of public and private wind developers, significant NGOs, attorneys and industry consultants.

Highlighting the meeting were two of the legislation’s strongest advocates: the principal author of the legislation, Kenneth L. Kimmell, General Counsel of the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, and Jennifer Ryan, Legislative Director for the Massachusetts Audubon Society, who has been a steadfast advocate and negotiator for the legislation aimed at streamlining the permitting processes for terrestrial wind power projects.  Many believe the reason that Massachusetts currently has only 16 megawatts of wind power production in operation toward the Commonwealth’s goal of 2000 megawatts by 2020 arises in great part from the myriad of current, state and local land use, environmental and related laws which apply to wind power projects – especially those less than 100 MW - do not provide a time or cost effective procedural process with cogent standards upon which developers, investors, lenders, project evaluators and members of the public may rely.  A related, critical issue addressed in the legislation is its establishment of a municipal cap for net metering that allows for greater clarity for lenders who finance wind power projects.

Ken and Jen briefed the gathering on the need for the legislation; the substance of the passed bills, including the significant variations between the House and Senate versions; the political, policy and budgetary issues relating to the now on-going attempts to reconcile the two versions so a bill may be enacted and sent to Governor Patrick for signature and how new law would be implemented following enactment.  Reconciliation of the House and Senate versions by the Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy must occur before July 31, the end of the current legislative session.

We will keep you apprised of developments on this important legislation.  If you’d like to comment on the bills, you should do so immediately, contacting both the Senate and House chairs: Senator Michael Morrissey - Michael.W.Morrissey@state.ma.us (617) 722-1494 and Representative Barry Finegold - Rep.BarryFinegold@hou.state.ma.us (617) 722-2263.  For more information on the Environmental Business Council of New England, go to http://www.ebc-ne.org.