Sen. Barrett on New Climate Bill: "A Swiss Army Knife"

Gov. Healey hosted a ceremonial signing of Massachusetts’ new climate bill (the actual signing took place Nov. 20). Sen. Mike Barrett is Senate Chair of the Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy. He was chief architect of the bill for the Senate.

Sen. Barrett’s statement upon the ceremonial signing of An Act promoting a clean energy grid, advancing equity and protecting ratepayers 

This new legislation will transform Massachusetts’ approach to global warming. But so, too, in a dramatically different way, will the new U.S. Congress and the second presidency of Donald Trump. 

It’s too early to predict the outcome of a head-on collision between our climate policies and Washington’s. There are multiple pathways to clean energy, and the superpower of the law we’re celebrating today is that it’s bulked up and versatile. If climate bills were tools, this one would be a Swiss Army Knife. When the fossil fuel interests lock up one clean energy tool, we’re going to flip open another and keep working.   

We going to need to be strategic. Which means being flexible. At times we’ll need to scramble, to improvise.   

A lot of finance professionals predict that electric power infrastructure will be a rare consensus favorite of blue states and Trump Republicans alike. If they’re right, Massachusetts will be in a strong position because we’ve got these siting and permitting reforms. 

But what if Trump and his allies take the more drastic course of sandbagging federal improvements to the electric system? That could happen, too. Then we can lean into the language in the new law that authorizes cooperation with other northeastern states and with Canadian provinces. If we have to map out a distinctive approach for us and the region, we will. 

Judging by the performance of Tesla stock since Trump’s electoral victory, death notices for the EV market are premature. Still, what if the Trump team stymies dispersal of federal funds for installing chargers on interstate highways? Then the dozen-plus EV provisions in this new state law enable chargers to go up nevertheless in spots where in-state residents need them most – on-street residential parking, condo developments, parking garages, and the like.   

In a similar vein, if federal subsidies for EV purchases go away, in Massachusetts buyers will continue to get a break. Because, unlike California, we did not let our state incentives lapse; in fact, we extended them in the new law. 

And if Trump’s team argues that, climate change notwithstanding, Americans must continue to pay for unneeded gas infrastructure alongside needed electric infrastructure, Massachusetts can ensure instead that the gas system contracts as the electric system expands (because building out both systems at once would do a number on family budgets). 

The new legislation is no unadulterated win. We could have taken up the long-dormant effort to cut plastic container waste, but we did not.  We could have curbed the rip-off of low-income households by so-called competitive suppliers, but we did not. These issues and others await in 2025. 

Once you accept as a given the outcome of the 2024 national election, passage of this legislation could not have come at a better time for Massachusetts residents concerned about climate. It lets us focus on the things we can control. Also on planning for the post-Trump era, which will be here before you know it.

Gov. Healey of Massachussetts | https://www.mass.gov/