This week, the Legislature sent a landmark clean energy bill to the governor’s desk. Yet instead of celebrating what is meant to be a big boost for Massachusetts’ emissions-reduction goals, we’re left wondering and worrying what disproportionate impact on our region this legislation will have if the governor signs it.
At issue is a measure in the bill that would redefine how large-scale energy projects like solar farms are permitted and approved. Under the clean energy bill, small solar arrays — less than 25 megawatts and generally taking up less than 125 acres —would be reviewed and permitted locally, according to criteria set by the state. Large-scale projects, however, would be essentially removed from local control and overseen by a state energy facilities siting board. Clean energy facilities of greater than 125 acres could be approved in any corner of the commonwealth by a single board making big energy siting decisions for the whole Bay State with reduced oversight from the folks who actually live near any given project site.
Understandably, this prospect has alarmed some regional advocates with premonitions of huge solar farms springing up all over Berkshire fields, farms and meadows with little local control. After all, open land is cheaper and more plentiful on this end of the commonwealth, and a siting board operating around Boston might be more inclined to target solar farms and other large-scale energy projects toward our backyards, hundreds of miles from theirs.
Berkshire Regional Planning Commission Executive Director Thomas Matuszko has raised that alarm in an October letter to Berkshire lawmakers and recent comments to The Eagle. In the letter, he related concerns that an influx of siting proposals for open land in Berkshire County could “drastically impact our environment and economy,” adding that “Berkshire County is a region very different than eastern Massachusetts.” In an interview with The Eagle, he also stated that “I think that there should be some mechanism whereas one or two communities just don’t end up with a lot of these clean energy facilities.”