Please contact your legislators today, and strongly urge them to ask the Telecommunications, Energy and Utilities committee to favorably report out H.3362/H.3333/S.2197 which act to prevent biomass burners from receiving renewable energy credits. This legislative action must happen prior to Nov. 11 to block proposed regulations!

LWVMA has already testified in support of the bills that would prevent wood burners (officially "biomass burning facilities") from receiving renewable energy credits, but that won't prevent any burners already grandfathered in from proceeding and getting the credits. Burning wood and wood-related products is not renewable on the timescale we have to prevent a climate disaster.

Unfortunately, the regulatory agency has the power to make these plants eligible UNLESS the legislature prevents it. Even after strong support for preventing these polluting, non-renewable resource burners from receiving credits, the legislature has so far done nothing.  New regulations promulgated by Governor Baker’s administration that would allow the inclusion of biomass in the Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) are now set to be published Nov. 12, despite concerns raised by the Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy (TUE). The Baker administration seeks to include biomass burners in the regulations. With these new regulations, Massachusetts ratepayers would fund incentives for old, polluting biomass plants under the guise that they are producing clean energy. 

The legislature must act now to override them! In order to make clear that we citizens do not support biomass burners being called renewable energy, we need the legislature to voice its opposition. While this is linked to the bills we support, that statement does not have to be in the form of legislation.

Remember, the legislature has this prerogative- legislation overrides regulation- so if these bills are enacted into law, they would nullify the Baker administration’s new regulations!

Action Steps:

How to Contact Your Legislator: You can find phone numbers, email addresses and office addresses on the legislature’s webpage for your Senator and Representative. Go to www.malegislature.gov and click on the Legislators tab. If you don’t know who your legislators are, click here.