After a failed attempt last year, Senate President Dominick J. Ruggerio is taking another crack at passing legislation that would require Rhode Island to get 100% of its electricity from renewable sources by the end of the decade.
Ruggerio, D-North Providence, introduced a bill last month that would turn into law a 2020 executive order by former Gov. Gina M. Raimondo outlining the ambitious renewable energy goal.
Last year, a similar measure sponsored by Ruggerio passed the Senate but died in the House.
Environmental advocates say this second attempt is crucial, not just for national accolades Rhode Island might earn for setting such an aggressive requirement but to help the state meet existing mandates over decarbonization and to offer environmental safeguards amid the pending sale of Rhode Island’s primary utility company.
But at least one key lawmaker could stand in the way: House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi.
Shekarchi remains noncommittal on the measure. In an emailed statement, he said he was waiting for the House legislation, sponsored by Rep. Deborah Ruggiero, D-Jamestown, to be reviewed by the House Environment Committee before deciding where he stands. Committee hearings on the legislation have not been scheduled yet in either chamber.
Ruggerio has been undeterred, saying the legislation would be the next step in meeting Rhode Island’s climate change plans – including the mandate under the state’s Act on Climate law passed last year to hit zero net carbon emissions by 2050.
Asked what makes this year’s bill, which is identical to the 2021 version, any more likely to pass in the House, Greg Pare, a Senate spokesman, said Ruggerio has told Shekarchi that the bill is a Senate priority.
The Senate legislation appears to already have the backing of Gov. Daniel J. McKee, who named the renewable electricity goal one of his priorities in his Rhode Island 2030 plan. McKee has also put $37 million in his proposed fiscal 2023 budget for home and business owners to buy electric heat pumps, which are a critical piece of decarbonizing the heating sector, according to a 2021 report commissioned by the R.I. Office of Energy Resources.
Environmental advocates are hopeful that the large number of offshore wind projects in the works and the pending sale of Narragansett Electric Co. to PPL Corp. will provide the momentum for lawmakers to push the bill over the finish line.
“Electricity is not the biggest source of emissions, but it is the easiest source to decarbonize,” said Kai Salem, policy coordinator for Green Energy Consumers Alliance. “Rhode Island doesn’t often get to be No. 1 in the country on things. On this issue, it makes a lot of sense.”
And the mandate doesn’t mean gas and oil will go by the wayside immediately. Instead, it gradually increases the number of renewable energy credits that energy companies have to purchase – or else pay money into a fund – to offset their fossil fuel energy, reaching the equivalent of 100% of the state’s electricity use by 2030.
The benefits are not just environmental but economic, giving renewable energy developers reassurance that Rhode Island supports their industry, Ruggiero said.
“They want to know the state is in the game and that renewable electricity is the direction we are going,” he said.
Nancy Lavin is a PBN staff writer. Contact her at Lavin@PBN.com.
