Climate and Energy Legislation (Or Lack Thereof)
With 2 significant pieces of climate and energy legislation in Massachusetts passed in 2021 and 2022, I was pleasantly surprised to see major pieces of climate and energy legislation pass the House and Senate earlier in the summer. The problem is that — despite having 19 months to collaborate — each Democratically-controlled chamber passed a bill with a significantly different scope than its counterpart, requiring the last minute development of a compromise bill. Unfortunately, this is considered “normal” behavior in a legislative body that has been under single party rule since the 1950s.
As an independent candidate for Waltham State Rep (9th Middlesex District) on the ballot in November with an academic background in physics and climate change science and over 15 years of professional experience in sustainability and clean energy, I have viewed climate and clean energy issues collectively as one of the greatest potential strengths of my platform. However, as a current employee of a utility company regulated by the Massachusetts DPU, I have been careful not to do anything as a candidate that could be construed as lobbying or create a conflict of interest for myself or my employer (or anyone else for that matter).
I resolved to avoid stating any formal policy positions about matters before the DPU that I might potentially have some influence over as part of my current job. I also resolved to wait to post any detailed climate and energy platform positions on my campaign website until after the legislative session was complete and I had an opportunity to thoughtfully digest whatever compromise legislation had passed. And even then, I intended to focus on any remaining gaps in the latest round of legislation (at least until I got into office by which point I would have resigned from my current position at the utility).
I still plan to stick to these campaign resolutions to avoid any perception of a conflict of interest. However, when I awoke this morning and read about the spectacular failure of the Democratic leadership in the state legislature for the two chambers to develop a compromise bill on the most important issue of this century, I knew I could no longer stay silent on climate change.
Now that the 2024 legislative session came to a close on July 31st without any significant climate or energy legislation having passed at all (with similar results on many other attempted “last minute” compromise bills on other topics) and combining that failure with the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities under the Healey Administration having dragged its feet for several years on implementing concrete regulations after passage of the 2021 and 2022 climate legislation, I’m beginning to wonder how serious the Massachusetts Democratic Party is about implementing the measures necessary to meet its 2030, 2035, 2040, and 2050 climate goals.
For those not following the regulatory process closely: Under Baker administration, the DPU waited a year on even starting the regulatory process to implement the 2021 climate legislation. Then, almost nothing happened under the first year of the Healey administration, only issuing an order in February of this year. Likewise, the DPU only just this week issued an order in docket 23-140 to open the rule making process for the 2022 climate legislation, which further modifies and leaves uncertainty around how the regulations under the 2021 legislation will be re-interpreted. In all likelihood, we (the general public, the renewable energy installers, and the utility companies) will not have regulatory certainty about the previous rounds of climate legislation until next spring or summer. All the while gigawatts of clean energy projects (and utility construction to connect them) are sitting in multi-year queues for engineering, design, permitting, and approval to begin construction.
That said, the previous rounds of legislation, which primarily address the incentive payment side of the clean energy deployment equation and do basically nothing to address the permitting and utility capacity bottlenecks that have been the real pain point in the Commonwealth since 2017, are necessary but not sufficient to meet the 2050 climate goals (let alone any of the intermediate goals). If the Democratic state leadership wants any realistic chance of meetings the intermediate goals in 2030, 2035, and 2040, it needs to act more deliberately to address the real world barriers (e.g. permitting, supply chain risks, consumer preferences, shady sales practices by installers and energy suppliers, and rising utility ratepayer costs) to clean energy deployment and the electrification of heat and transportation before we even consider the exponentially growing energy demand from AI data centers over the same time period.
If elected, I would work with legislators from any party or none at all to progress meaningful climate and energy legislation at the beginning, middle, and end of legislative session — not just waiting for a last minute deal in 2026 that might not be implemented until 2029! Even if I am not elected, I would strongly encourage both chambers and the administration to prioritize climate legislation that considers the challenges facing residents, businesses, and industry sooner rather than later — perhaps even reconvening ahead of the next formal legislative session! (It’s okay, I won’t be offended. Massachusetts deserves better.)
Thank you for your time and attention,
Sean Diamond
Independent Candidate for
Waltham State Representative
9th Middlesex District