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New England

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This summary is part of Beyond the Beltway: A Report on State Energy and Climate Policies produced by the Center for Law, Energy & the Environment at Berkeley Law

 

The New England states include Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine, with a total population of around 15 million (approximately half of which resides in Massachusetts). These states are mostly small in acreage but many western states have smaller populations – for instance, tiny Rhode Island has a larger population than the Dakotas, Wyoming, Montana, or Alaska.

In terms of energy policy, probably the most important thing to know about all these states is that they belong to RGGI, the Northeast/mid-Atlantic carbon trading system. That system has recently become more ambitious in its efforts to cut carbon. But each of these states has its own distinctive features.

The data from these states is really striking. There are enormous differences between the energy mixes within this confined cluster of smallish states. Vermont and New Hampshire, for instance, are completely different in their energy mixes. It’s hard to believe that these differences are due to geography. This diversity creates large opportunities for gains from trade in electricity, renewable credit, and carbon markets. Massachusetts was discussed separately above. Here are the basics about the others.[1]

Connecticut. Connecticut produces almost no renewable energy; its generation is more or less evenly split between nuclear and gas. Since 2010, coal has been nearly pushed out of the market. The state has a renewable portfolio standard of 27% by 2020. The state also encourages long-term procurement contracts for renewables, which eases financing, and has established a green finance bank. In 2013, the state was ranked in the top five for energy efficiency.

Connecticut had a long run of Republican governors until 2010, when it elected Democrat Dannell Malloy. Both houses of the legislature have been in Democratic hands almost continuously for the past fifteen years.

In June 2017, Governor Malloy announced that the state was joining the U.S. Climate Alliance. He said, “[w]e remain committed to meeting the standards set forth in the Paris Climate Agreement because it is the right thing to do for not only the future of our state, but for the future of our planet.”[2]

Maine. Maine’s power mix is dramatically different from Connecticut, primarily composed of 11% wind, 25% natural gas, 29% hydro, and 27% biomass. Like Connecticut, it has virtually no solar. Maine has easily met its renewable portfolio standard, which required 40% renewable generation by 2017, including 30% from pre-2005 sources (mainly existing hydro and biomass) and 10% from sources built after 2005 (primarily wind, which was almost nonexistent in the state when the RPS was enacted in 2007). Interestingly, total energy use seems to be down significantly from its peak. As in other parts of the country, Maine’s ability to sell its renewable power to other states (especially Massachusetts) is hampered by lack of transmission capacity.[3]        

Maine’s legislature is narrowly divided, with a small Democratic majority in one house and a one-vote GOP majority in the other. Governor Paul LePage is as outspoken a conservative as you could find anywhere, whom the Washington Post has called “unhinged.” He does not seem to have dented the state’s commitment to renewable energy.[4]

New Hampshire. New Hampshire generates half of its energy from nuclear and a third from natural gas, with renewables accounting for most of the rest along with a dash of coal power. There’s bit of wind power (2%), but most of the renewables are biomass (8%) and hydro (6%). The renewable portfolio standard is just below 25% by 2025. The Republicans control both houses of the legislature by decent margins (but not like the margins the GOP has in parts of the South and West). The governor’s office was held by the Democrats for over a dozen years until Republican Chris Sununu was elected in 2016.

Rhode Island. The smallest state in the Union has a renewable portfolio standard of 16% by 2019, but it currently gets only about 4% of its power from renewables. Renewables have rapidly expanded since 2012, so the state may actually close in on its target by the end of 2019. The striking aspect of Rhode Island’s energy mix is that virtually all of its other energy (94%) comes from natural gas. In 2015, Governor Gina Raimondo signed an executive order calling for the state government to reduce energy use and get all of its energy from renewables by 2025. She also favors a state carbon tax.[5] In 2017, according to news reports, the state legislature enacted bills providing a “10-year extension on the state’s renewable energy growth program, streamlined processes for statewide solar permitting applications and connecting renewable energy installations to the power grid, and allows farmers to install a renewable energy system on [up to] 20 percent of their total farm land acreage.”[6] Rhode Island has invested heavily in energy efficiency programs, with notable success.

Vermont. Vermont had a renewable portfolio standard of 20% by 2017. The target is virtually irrelevant, however, because Vermont generates nearly all of its power from renewables: 16% wind, 5% solar (far more than any of its neighbors), 56% hydro, and 23% biomass. But there’s a caveat here. Vermont used to generate a substantial amount of nuclear power, for both in-state use (approximately one third of the state’s power) and export, before its only nuclear facility was retired in 2014.[7] Governor Phil Scott is a Republican but seems enthusiastic about renewable energy and urged President Trump to stay in the Paris Accord. Vermont has also adopted California’s tailpipe standards for carbon emissions from new vehicles.[8]

Data in this section is primarily drawn from the Georgetown Climate Center State Energy Analysis Tool.

 

Note that Massachusetts’ climate policies have been considered separately 

 

  1. “Gov. Malloy Adds Connecticut to Coalition of States Committed to Upholding the Paris Climate Agreement,” The Office of Governor Dannel P. Malloy (June 2, 2017), http://portal.ct.gov/Office-of-the-Governor/Press-Room/Press-Releases/2017/06-2017/Gov-Malloy-Adds-CT-to-Coalition-of-States-Committed-to-Upholding-the-Paris-Climate-Agreement.
  2. Tux Turkel, “Why Maine’s Renewable Power Remains a Pipe Dream,” Portland Press Herald (December 19, 2016), http://www.pressherald.com/2016/12/19/why-maines-renewable-power-remains-a-pipe-dream/.
  3. Editorial Board, “Maine’s Governor is Completely Unhinged,” Washington Post (September 27, 2016), https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/maines-governor-is-completely-unhinged/2016/09/27/5c318a30-84eb-11e6-a3ef-f35afb41797f_story.html.
  4. Sue AnderBois, “RI Governor Raimondo Takes Bold Steps on Climate and Clean Energy,” NECEC (December. 9, 2015), http://www.necec.org/blog-details/ri-governor-raimondo-takes-bold-steps-on-climate-and-clean- energy.html.
  5. Bill Tomison, “Raimondo: New Laws Help Foster ‘Clean Energy Economy’ for RI,” WPRI (August. 9, 2017), http://wpri.com/2017/08/09/raimondo-new-laws-help-foster-clean-energy-economy-for-ri/.
  6. Mike Donoghue, “Vermont Yankee winds down operations,” Burlington Free Press (December 29, 2014), http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/story/news/2014/12/29/vermont-yankee-plant-prepares-shut-down/20992137/.
  7. “Governor Phil Scott Signs Letter Urging U.S. to Maintain Its Commitment to Paris Climate Agreement,” Office of Governor Phil Scott (May 17, 2017), http://governor.vermont.gov/press-release/governor-phil-scott-signs-letter-urging-us-maintain-its-commitment-paris-climate.