I delivered this ‘member minute’ at the Select Board meeting of July 25, 2022:
The Massachusetts House and Senate have sent a major climate bill to the governor, H.5060, that includes, among many other features, a possible way for Acton to proceed to be able to regulate, and largely prevent, fossil fuel infrastructure in new construction and major rehab. The bill creates a pilot program to allow up to 10 Towns and Cities to try out a fossil-fuel ban. Before they can apply, Towns and Cities have to create a corresponding Home Rule Petition, which we already did at the 2021 Town Meeting. Before the application can be accepted, however, Towns have to fulfill one of three housing-related requirements: Achieve their 10% affordable housing numbers, achieve a “safe harbor” status under the 40B program, or implement the zoning changes called for in the recent Housing Choice law that we have started researching. As near as I can tell so far, the quickest way forward for Acton would likely be the 10% affordable housing count, since we are quite close and since there are projects under consideration that could get us the rest of the way there. Please stay tuned as we get more information about this program: when we do, I’ll recommend we put it on our agenda so we can learn more and discuss our options.
Another way forward in decarbonizing our new buildings is via what’s called the specialized opt-in stretch energy code that was invented in last year’s climate legislation. This program is still being finalized, but it may make it rather difficult to build fossil-fuel infrastructure into new buildings and major rehab. Any Green Community like Acton will be able to opt-in to this building code. It would require a Town Meeting vote to adopt this new code. I will be writing personal testimony to the DOER about this new stretch code to communicate the importance of stopping as much new fossil fuel infrastructure as possible. If the timing is appropriate, I may bring a copy of that letter to a future board meeting for your consideration as a Board letter. And, after the program gets finalized, I will recommend that we ask John to have his staff look over the program details over and evaluate the impact on Acton of adopting this optional energy code, so that we can consider bringing that to a future Town Meeting.
On a related topic, many details are coming together on working with existing building owners on decarbonizing. I hope a future Board meeting will be presented with more information.
Finally, an update on the Low Income Community Solar System program that Town Meeting approved last year. As you may recall, this program was going to give large credits on the electricity bills of any low-income electricity customers who were part of the Acton Power Choice program, at any level. The solar developers who are planning to build on the WR Grace site and the Town have had cordial and useful discussions on bringing this forward, but we are currently stuck by inaction on the part of DPU to approve the final regulations that would make this possible. As with the stretch code, I will be writing a short note to the DPU about this, and will bring it to a future Board meeting for your consideration as a Board statement.