At New England Council, Healey touts clean energy funding
Speaking to a crowded room of business leaders in Boston on Tuesday morning, Governor Maura Healey sought to galvanize support for her economic development bill — and in particular the parts of the bill that would boost the state’s climate-tech sector. In a speech to the New England Council, the governor cited figures from an upcoming UMass Donahue Institute report that show the $1.3 billion her administration wants to invest in climate-tech over 10 years would result in $16.4 billion in new economic activity and as many as 7,000 new jobs. The state spending figure includes $400 million in bond authorizations for capital projects, $300 million in tax incentives, and $300 million to support the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center’s operations, as well as an expansion in eligibility for existing offshore wind tax credits that could cost up to $350 million. Healey cited some homegrown successes such as Boston Metal, which is seeking to decarbonize steel production, Ascend Elements, which makes environmentally friendly materials for car batteries, and Sublime Systems, which is manufacturing low-carbon cement. And she pointed to the impact of the state’s life sciences initiative, launched under then-governor Deval Patrick nearly two decades ago, emphasizing that state resources will help Massachusetts to remain a leader in the growing field of climate-tech, just like what happened with biotech. Healey’s economic development bill, which would also recapitalize the life sciences money while providing funding for several other business-focused programs, still needs to be approved by the House and the Senate; the Legislature’s economic development committee is scheduled to hold a hearing next Tuesday to discuss Healey’s bill at the State House. Lawmakers will likely modify her language, and pass some version of it before formal sessions end for the year on July 31. “Frankly, it’s an opportunity that we cannot afford to miss,” Healey said of her bill, dubbed the Mass Leads Act. “We’ve done it in life sciences. We’ve seen where that’s taken us. We have all the same ingredients to do it in climate tech.” — JON CHESTO
May 17, 2024