The Massachusetts House Energy Committee ruled favorably yesterday morning on a redrafted version of Gov. Mitt Romney’s House bill that would legalize his reallocation of $17 million from the Mass. Renewable Energy Trust to the general fund to avoid a state budget deficit.
House Bill 3738 requires the state to purchase an equivalent amount of electricity from renewable energy sources over a period of up to 20 years beginning no sooner than July of 2005. The maximum payment allowed each fiscal year would be $5 million.
Should Romney’s bill become law, “the state would be getting a good portion of energy from renewable energy,” Romney’s Deputy Press Secretary Karen Grant said after the meeting, “which makes for a healthy environment and helps economic development by providing a client base for renewable energy.”
However, the focus on Romney’s need to avoid a budget deficit “jeopardizes the core vision [of the bill],” said Doug Foy, the Secretary of Housing, Transportation and Environment, who testified in favor of the House bill.
The bill envisions a “cleaner environment and better economic growth of the commonwealth,” he said. Foy said the government’s first priority would be to find renewable energy sources in Massachusetts, although he acknowledged the potential difficulties in only funding state corporations.
Foy said Romney has not submitted any further plans to reallocate funds from the Renewable Energy Trust and he thinks the governor would prefer to find alternative ways to solve any future budgetary problems.
Seth Kaplan, a senior attorney at the Conservation Law Foundation (CLF), testified in favor of the bill as a way for the state to set an example for private businesses by purchasing renewable energy. He emphasized the bill’s necessity in reestablishing trust between the state and the taxpayers.
“Money was taken from the taxpayers for this particular purpose,” said Kaplan. “Taking money out [for another purpose] shatters that trust.”
Romney’s bill “legalizes something that shouldn’t have happened,” according to Kaplan.
If the bill fails to become law, the CLF would sponsor a lawsuit to restore $17 million to the Renewable Energy Trust. Larry Chretien, of the Massachusetts Energy Consumer Alliance, said the alliance would support the CLF’s lawsuit if the bill is not passed into law.
Paul Gromer of the Solar Energy Business Association of New England, Judy Silvia and Mitchell Adams, who oversee the Renewable Energy Trust, and Jack Alexander, of Entergy, the company that owns the Pilgrim nuclear power plant in Plymouth, also testified in favor of the bill.
One of the committee’s key concerns was the June 30 deadline to pass the legislation. In order for the state to begin purchasing renewable energy in 2005, planning for the spending must occur during the fiscal year 2004, which begins this July.