There have been 481 Legislative bills printed out of the nearly 1700 bill titles that were submitted in December. MEMA continues to track and flag bills of interest to our members.
The Environment and Natural Resources Committee was briefed this week by DEP on DEP’s report “Measurement and Control of Emissions from Aboveground Petroleum Storage Tanks,” see the summary of the report.
The Energy Utilities and Technology Committee held a public hearing on:
L.D. 9 An Act To Promote Renewable Energy by Authorizing a Power-to-fuel Pilot Program
Generally defined, power-to-gas is the process of converting electricity into a gas fuel,
namely hydrogen through the process of electrolysis. This hydrogen, called ‘green hydrogen’
when produced using renewable electricity, can then be used in several different end uses
including in industrial processes, and can also be stored or combined with CO2 for conversion
into methane gas. The pilot program presented in this bill provides the opportunity to test this
technology utilizing renewable electricity generation in the electrolysis process. The
pilot project will be used to determine the commercial viability of this power-to-gas approach
to energy storage and provide insights into megawatt-scale system designs.
This bill is a repeat from last session. MEMA is supportive of this pilot project.
The Labor and Housing Committee held a public hearing on:
L.D. 99 An Act To Require the State To Divest Itself of Assets Invested in the Fossil Fuel Industry
This legislation is based on the belief that curbing climate change requires, in part, intentional government action, crafted with fiduciary obligations in mind. LD 99 seeks to divest state assets from the fossil fuels industry. The state has liquid assets outside of MPERS, namely the operating cash-pool and various trust funds for specific purposes. The divestment presents investors with two choices – show their displeasure with an entire industry by selling all of its shares or remain invested but use shareholder power to change the situation and to work with companies in good faith to reduce emissions rather than hope that discipline achieves the same results.
MEMA is opposed to this legislation.
