A COMMISION APPOINTED by Gov. Maura Healey recommended a more streamlined, time-constrained process for approving the siting of energy infrastructure projects while giving those affected additional support and a voice in the proceedings.
The tone of the report is balanced, but the recommendations would concentrate more power in the hands of the state’s Energy Facilities Siting Board. On large-scale solar, wind, battery storage and transmission projects, all state, regional, and local permits would be consolidated into a single permit that would have to be approved or rejected by the siting board within 15 months.
For smaller projects, defined as any project involving less than 25 megawatts, municipalities would be the final decision-makers on new clean energy infrastructure and final decisions would be required in 12 months.
In a statement issued by Healey, she made clear that the overarching goal is to speed things up. “To meet our emissions limits, we need to build much more clean energy infrastructure, and we need to build it much quicker than we have to date,” Healey said.
A state official who briefed reporters on the project said the timelines would definitely pick up the pace. There are no deadlines currently and the process takes as long as it takes, the official said, adding that no project has been permitted by the Energy Facilities Siting Board over the last 25 years in less than 15 months. The official said the permitting process can take as long as four years today.
Currently, energy infrastructure developers often pursue approval from the Energy Facilities Siting Board and then go to local municipalities and other entities for additional approvals. If local permits are denied, the developer can then go back to the Energy Facilities Siting Board in a bid to overturn the decision of the municipality.
The new process would bring the municipality into the Energy Facilities Siting Board’s decision-making process right away, and allow town officials to voice their concerns and propose solutions. But once the Energy Facilities Siting Board rules, the decision would be final.
Susanne Conley, who is active in a group called Save Our Beach, which is concerned about Avangrid’s plan to bring an offshore wind farm’s transmission line ashore at Dowses Beach in Barnstable, said the commission’s approach will put residents of local communities at a disadvantage when challenging energy infrastructure plans that impact them.
“This is an orchestrated power grab by the Healey administration to strip municipalities of home rule when it comes to renewable energy infrastructure,” Conley said in an emailed statement. “It is also a cynical plan to concentrate decision-making in a small group that will answer to developers rather than to the citizens of Massachusetts.”
The current approval process incentivizes developers to cut deals with local communities to gain support for projects. State officials acknowledged the new approach would allow developers to bypass local communities and go straight to the Energy Facilities Siting Board for approval, but they said that was unlikely to happen because local approval is so vital to a project’s success.
The commission proposed a number of initiatives to make sure local voices are heard. The commission called for developers to follow rules governing engagement with communities early on in the approval process, proposed the creation of an office within the Energy Facilities Siting Board to facilitate presentations to and discussions with local residents, and recommended the preparation of “statewide guidance on community benefits plans and agreements to help ensure communities receive new benefits and opportunities from infrastructure sited in their area.”
The commission delivered its report on Friday to Healey, who in turn is expected to propose language on siting reform to the Legislature’s Telecommunications, Utilities, and Energy Committee, which is expected to work on a climate bill including some form of siting reform before the sessions ends in July. The House and Senate chairs of the committee sat in on the meetings of the commission and are well versed on the issues.