Newsclip
Committee considers spectrum of energy issues
By Kyle Cheney
State House News
The discussion came at a State House hearing of the Committee on Telecommunication, Utilities and Energy, which heard proposals to simplify wind turbine zoning, restrict energy facility siting in urban areas and encourage low-cost energy procurement – some of nearly 70 proposals.
“We have significant untapped potential for energy efficiency,” Sue Reid, staff attorney for the Conservation Law Foundation, told the committee. “We also need to work toward displacing existing dirty generation.”
Testifying alongside Reid, Environment Northeast attorney Sam Krasnow said Massachusetts’s energy use is like a leaky bathtub. The state can continue to fill the tub with traditional energy practices, he said, or “we could plug some of the holes” while saving billions of dollars and creating thousands of jobs by emphasizing renewable technology.
Although the committee breezed through most of the bills at what House chairman Brian Dempsey called an “auction-style” pace, some of the more impassioned testimony came from Rep. Eugene O’Flaherty, who urged the committee to pass his proposal to keep major energy facilities at least a half-mile away from dense populations.
Admitting that in his 11-year tenure on Beacon Hill he rarely testified before committees, O’Flaherty (D-Chelsea) said the plight of his constituents compelled him to speak on their behalf. He referenced a bid by an energy company to build two “smokestacks” in his district, ironically in proximity to a new, state-of-the-art green facility.
“In totality, my district is already carrying enough burden,” he said.
Rep. Michael Rodrigues (D-Westport) called for a simplified zoning process for residents and small business who want to construct wind turbines on their property.
“Communities and zoning enforcement agencies are having a hard time,” he said, because they lack a basic framework to apply to turbines.
His bill (H 3370) would create a minimum set of standards for turbine building that towns could opt to enforce if they lack their own stricter rules.
Advocating for his own bill (H 3337), Rep. James Marzilli (D-Arlington) said he envisioned a time when all gas stations were renamed “fueling stations” and offered consumers options in addition to gasoline, such as biodiesel.
His legislation also would create an “Energy Resources Procurement Board” to help consumers identify the least-cost and cleanest ways to power their homes and businesses.
Bob Mahoney, chairman of Cape Light Compact, called for a program to test “dynamic pricing” of electricity (S 1946). The program would examine the feasibility of pricing electricity at different rates at different times of the day based on demand. Alerting consumers to rate changes would encourage people to put off high-energy tasks – laundry, dishwashing – until off-peak hours, Mahoney argued. “People have no way of controlling their fate,” he said. This program would put them “back in control.”