Wind Turbine Failure Energized Climate Bill Opposition

House Speaker Ron Mariano (right) and Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy Chair Rep. Jeff Roy (left) were joined by Environmental League of Massachusetts' Elizabeth Henry on a September 2021 boat tour of the Block Island offshore wind farm.

Alison Kuznitz, Michael P. Norton/ STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE

Unanswered questions surrounding the damaged offshore wind installation off the coast of Martha's Vineyard partially fueled unanimous Republican opposition to a clean energy bill that Democrats embraced Wednesday night, according to the top House Republican.

House Minority Leader Brad Jones called the legislation -- which looks to streamline and expedite the lengthy siting and permitting process for clean energy projects -- a "missed opportunity" to address the "catastrophic failure" of a Vineyard Wind turbine over the weekend.

"We don't know whether it's a one-off. We don't know whether it's something much more serious and systemic that's going to repeat itself," Jones told the News Service on Thursday morning. "We're lucky there were no fatalities or injuries, but there were obviously beach closures, and obviously that's not something that you want to see on a recurring basis, not very sustainable from an energy perspective."

Cleanup crews have been picking up fiberglass and foam debris on Nantucket beaches after a wind blade, which was undergoing testing, was mysteriously damaged Saturday. Federal officials have shut down operations at Vineyard Wind "until further notice," a setback for an industry that state officials are counting on to expedite the transition from fossil fuels to cleaner power production.

Vineyard Wind announced Thursday morning that a "significant part" of the remaining blade detached and fell into the Atlantic Ocean, an outcome they forecast on Wednesday night.

Jones said lawmakers should have paused to understand what led to the incident before tackling the clean energy bill, which consolidates state, regional and local permits for larger clean energy projects.

"It was a missed opportunity to say, 'Hey, let's tap the brakes a little bit,'" Jones said.

The House bill, which passed on a 131-25 vote, would also push the state further into renewable power by calling for a new procurement of 9.45 million megawatt-hours of clean energy resources, including existing nuclear generation, and allowing future offshore wind and clean energy contracts to be extended up to 30 years, up from the current limit of 20 years.

The minority leader, asked whether he would have felt differently about the bill if the House had tackled it before the incident, described the broken turbine as a "big piece of it." But Jones chided House Democratic leadership for opposing amendments filed by Republican lawmakers, including his proposal for a study on car battery recycling.

The North Reading Republican also raised concerns over how the bill was crafted, as he noted long-standing divisions among House and Senate members of the Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy, in addition to certain provisions that he said were not vetted through a public hearing. No Republicans publicly voiced concerns during a House session that ran into Wednesday evening, though Jones said he was discussing issues with colleagues, including committee co-chair Rep. Jeffrey Roy, on the House floor.

The House released its clean energy bill Tuesday, and Jones said the timeline didn't leave him with enough time to speak to municipal leaders about the new policies ahead of Wednesday's vote, particularly the impact of expediting permits on the local level.

Rep. Hannah Kane of Shrewsbury said Republicans were concerned about local control in the siting process and "making sure that municipalities have a role in that."

The House rejected a Republican Rep. Steven Xiarhos of Barnstable amendment that would have created a commission to study the risks to cities and towns from "on-shore electric infrastructure associated with off-shore wind energy generation projects as they land in and traverse communities of the Commonwealth." The commission would have been charged with studying legislation requiring Massachusetts to "indemnify cities and towns for their costs of responding to, and cleaning up after, a catastrophic event relating to on-shore infrastructure for off-shore wind power, including but not limited to fire and the release of oil and hazardous materials."

Republican Rep. Mathew Muratore of Plymouth expressed his support for the amendment on X.

"This week saw new destructive and disruptive developments in off shore wind structures off of the coast of Cape and the Islands. Several coastal areas - many of which attract tourists - were badly damaged and rendered unsafe," Muratore said. "We can't continue to allow these projects to continue moving forward without serious oversight and increased planning."

Xiahros wrote on Facebook that he is "in favor of renewable energy alternatives generally."

"However, I am also mindful of the fact that these projects are causing great concern in our area," he wrote. "I have been an active participant in meetings about the Dowses Beach project and plans to bring a huge amount of power onshore there. I share local concerns about the project, and I have been pushing for greater state involvement and oversight to provide better safety guarantees."

On Thursday, Xiarhos was back on Facebook posting photos of a bucket loader cleaning up wind blade debris on Nantucket.

"Closed beaches. Blades falling off turbines. Megawatts of power coming onshore across beaches and through residential neighborhoods," Xiarhos wrote. "At what point will the Commonwealth admit that there are potential health, safety, financial, and environmental issues that need to be addressed as we aggressively pursue our renewable energy goals? This is the principle I tried to impress upon my colleagues yesterday, on behalf of the people I represent who share those concerns. And, it's a big reason why I voted against the wind energy bill considered by the House yesterday."

On X, Rep. Nick Boldyga of Southwick did not explain his vote on the bill, but empathized with a Nantucket lobsterman who claimed the wind project "tombstones" are "the end of my business."

"What about the 'Clean Energy' corporations taking in millions in government cash and tax breaks?! Are they shut down?" Boldyga posted. "Do they lose government funding or tax breaks for polluting our oceans?"

During his opening remarks Wednesday, Roy highlighted provisions in the bill that are meant to benefit cities and towns, which would retain their authority over smaller clean energy projects, see decisions from local permitting authorities be included in a local consolidated permit that cannot be appealed, and gain technical support from a new division established in the Department of Energy Resources.

"Anyone who doubts that we've been supporting municipalities or that we have framed advances in clean energy at the municipal level that are negative need to look no further than the DPU municipal aggregation order that was released a few days ago," Roy said.

The Department of Public Utilities announced last week its new streamlined process to review municipal aggregation applications within 120 days. The order gives cities and towns more flexibility over developing their plans, and they can now modify their plans after a 30-day public review period.

"The bill before you continues this commitment to empower municipalities as trusted partners and foster local control," Roy said. "It will bring local expertise and innovation to the table and will help accelerate the green transition."

A spokeswoman for Gov. Maura Healey said her administration was in communication with Vineyard Wind, GE and government officials, and is monitoring the situation and providing support to impacted communities. The administration is stressing the importance of transparent and regular updates to the public on the disassembly, cleanup and the investigation into the cause of the blade breakage, the spokeswoman said.

“Our administration is carefully monitoring the damaged blade on Vineyard Wind. We continue to stress the importance of a prompt response that protects the environment and public health, and minimizes impact on the surrounding communities," Healey said. "The offshore wind industry is a critical component of Massachusetts’ economy and the country’s transition to clean, affordable energy. It is essential that we gain a full understanding of what happened here and how it can be prevented in the future."

The Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance called for an investigation to determine if other turbine blades are compromised, including the blades in production, and a spokesman said "you can support renewable energy and not support this project."

"The Healey administration should be preparing for the worst and calling on the Biden administration for federal support," said Paul Craney, spokesman for the alliance. "This environmental and economic disaster requires significant resources to clean up and mitigate, the question is where these resources will come from. The Healey administration should not be relying on what the offshore wind companies tell her and promise to do. Massachusetts needs a governor who is committed to the safety of its residents and not the bottom line of foreign offshore wind companies."