An MBTA commuter rail train waits at a station in 2019. Photo by Paul Morris | Flickr / CC BY-SA 2.0

Senators took a major step Thursday toward achieving the net-zero emissions target they already set for Massachusetts by approving a policy-heavy bill aimed at expanding the clean energy industry and reining in emissions from the transportation and building sectors.

Nearly 12 hours after they kicked off the debate, senators voted 37-3 on legislation (S.2819) that faces an unclear future as negotiators prepare to reconcile it with a smaller-scope bill that cleared the House (H 4515). All three of the chamber’s Republicans, who unsuccessfully pushed an alternative proposal, voted against the final measure.

Along the way, the Senate adopted 45 amendments – including one that calls for attempting to nearly double the amount of offshore wind energy generated for Massachusetts over the next decade-plus – leading to what Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy Committee Chair Sen. Michael Barrett called “a product here that is much better than when we started.”

The legislation, which comes on the heels of a 2021 law committing to reaching net-zero emissions statewide by 2050, would pump $250 million into clean energy expansion, electric vehicle incentives, and electric vehicle charging infrastructure. It would also overhaul the offshore wind procurement process, require greater scrutiny on the future of natural gas, and allow some cities and towns to restrict the use of fossil fuels in new construction.

“Last year’s climate bill was about laying out a plan for tackling this formidable challenge of climate change. This year, in this legislation, we propose to begin to execute the plan. If you like metaphors, last year was about laying out a roadmap, today we start traveling down the road. That’s why this is all about implementation,” Barrett, a Lexington Democrat, said on the Senate floor. “I am happy beyond measure, I am so happy, that this Senate has the courage to move beyond roadmapping and beyond laying out a template and is in favor of getting to the question of implementation and execution.”

Electric Commuter Rail Plan Required

The bill focuses on three main areas: electricity, transportation and buildings, all of which play major roles in existing greenhouse gas emissions.

Using surplus state tax revenues as seed funding, the legislation would create a $100 million Clean Energy Investment Fund, spend $100 million to incentivize adoption of electric vehicles, and deploy $50 million to build out electric vehicle charging infrastructure.

All new vehicles sold in Massachusetts would need to produce zero emissions starting in the year 2035 under the bill, which would also require the MBTA to purchase or lease only zero-emission buses starting in 2028 and convert the entire fleet by 2040.

After senators adopted an amendment filed by Transportation Committee Co-chair Sen. Brendan Crighton, the bill would also require the MBTA to cease purchasing diesel-powered locomotive trains by the end of 2030 and lay out specific plans to electrify the commuter rail system.

Ten municipalities would be empowered to limit the use of fossil fuels in new construction, a local option that Senate Democrats crafted in response to the Baker administration’s stretch energy code that does not authorize cities and towns to mandate builders use all-electric heating.

House-Senate Differences Loom

The proposal still faces a long, uncertain road to final passage featuring a negotiation showdown with the House, which last month approved a narrower bill that aims to turbocharge the offshore wind industry but was silent on other Senate-backed reforms. The House could also tackle additional climate legislation in the coming months.

Representatives in March voted 144-12 in favor of a bill that would remove the offshore wind price cap, which currently requires each new project to offer power at a lower price than its predecessor, in most situations while adding a new focus on job creation and economic development aspects of bids.

The Senate bill would keep a price cap in place for new bids, albeit while allowing some economic development costs to be excluded from that calculation.

Another substantial difference between the branches’ approach – eyeing additional offshore wind energy – emerged via the amendment process Thursday.

With an unrecorded voice vote, senators approved a Sen. Julian Cyr amendment that calls for the Department of Energy Resources to “strive to achieve the goal of not less than 10,000 megawatts of offshore wind capacity by not later than 2035.”

Massachusetts has already authorized procuring 5,600 megawatts of offshore wind power, and two projects already in development would total about 1,600 megawatts.

Limited Time for Deal

Cyr said kicking off a “second phase of offshore wind procurement” would coincide with the expected availability of new lease areas in the Gulf of Maine accessible to the Boston area and the North Shore, and he also said it would position Massachusetts by itself to fulfill one-third of the Biden administration’s national goal for offshore wind production by 2030.

The offshore wind bill the House approved on March 3 would update the procurement process, create new tax credits and incentives for the industry, expand training programs, incentivize electrical grid modernization and impose new environmental and fishing requirements on offshore wind projects, but it does not authorize any additional procurement.

Lawmakers are set to wrap up their formal business for the 2021-2022 session on July 31, leaving less than four months remaining to hammer out a compromise and get it to Gov. Charlie Baker’s desk.

Differences in scope were on the mind of Tarr, who on Thursday said he hopes his chamber approves legislation that could be reconciled with the House in “the very limited time remaining in this legislative session.”

Baker has offered his own bill to reshape the offshore wind procurement process, including scrapping the price cap and spending $750 million in federal aid to launch a clean energy investment fund.

The Senate on Thursday rejected an amendment from Tarr that would have called for using $750 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds, similar to Baker’s proposal.