McKee signs climate goal legislation

Euer-authored law targets emissions

Gov. Dan McKee signed the Act on Climate into law Saturday amid cries from Republicans for the Democrat to veto the landmark legislation.

“With 400 miles of coastline, urban and rural coastal communities, fishing and agricultural industries, the Ocean State is on the frontlines of the climate crisis,” McKee said. “The Act on Climate represents a commitment that not only addresses a moral imperative, but also presents a platform to enhance our economy, public health, environmental equity and natural environment.”

The bill, which was ceremoniously signed overlooking Narragansett Bay at Bowen’s Wharf in Newport, was introduced by Jamestown’s state senator, Democrat Dawn Euer, who serves as chairwoman of the Environment and Agriculture Committee. She said the bill represents “a strong commitment to the long-term health of our planet.”

“We are jumping to the leading edge of those states and nations that are changing the landscape of power generation,” she said.

The bill makes the climate goals outlined in the Resilient Rhode Island Act of 2014 more ambitious and updated with current science. Under the law, the state needs to develop a plan to reduce emissions from transportation, buildings, heating and electricity to 10 percent below 1990 levels this year, 45 percent by 2030, 80 percent by 2040 and net-zero by 2050. Euer said the climate crisis poses too grave a threat to Rhode Island to treat emissions reduction as an aspiration rather than an obligation.

“As a state with so much to lose, we cannot afford and have no excuse to be anything but totally committed to negating our carbon emissions,” she said. “This is, without question, our battle and our responsibility.”

The act requires the Executive Climate Change Coordinating Council to update its plan for carbon reduction every five years, and include measures to provide an equitable transition that addresses environmental injustices and public health inequities. It also would ensure “strong and fair employment” as fossil-fuel industry jobs are replaced by green energy jobs, and includes food security as an element to consider as the state continues to evaluate its plans to address climate change.

After 2025, if the state does not meet its targets and comply with the act, the people of Rhode Island are able to seek action in Providence Superior Court.

Besides being an imperative for human survival, reducing carbon emissions also creates a wealth of economic opportunities for Rhode Island, Euer said. The bill prioritizes women, minorities and ex-convicts when it comes to recruiting, training and hiring. According to Commerce

Rhode Island, the offshore wind sector will create between 20,000-35,000 jobs along the East Coast by 2028, and President Joe Biden has vowed to double offshore wind production by 2030.

Republicans, however, “are raising grave concerns about the nearly unbridled power delegated to unelected state agencies” by this bill, according to a press release by the state GOP.

Because the legislation would delegate “dramatic and expansive legislative power” to the Executive Climate Change Coordinating Council, all other state agencies would be compelled to adopt regulations to enforce that plan, which would allow agencies to affect a resident’s right to choose, for example, their electricity provider and automobile.

“Unelected bureaucrats should not be in the position to place such costly burdens on Rhode Islanders,” Republican House Minority Whip Michael Chippendale said. “For instance, in order to achieve the contemplated 80 percent emissions reduction by 2040, Rhode Island homes must be retrofitted with electric heat at a cost of $50,000 to $100,000 per home. This dramatic financial imposition on Rhode Island families should only be pursuant to a vote of their elected representatives, not the pen stroke of the ECCCC, an unelected state agency.”

Despite these concerns, Peter Neronha, a Jamestown resident who serves as Rhode Island’s attorney general, supports the legislation.

“After its people, our state’s greatest resource is its natural environment,” he said. “It is up to us to protect it for future generations. Passage of the 2021 Act on Climate into law signals that we, collectively as a state, are taking meaningful and sustained action to address climate change, the greatest threat to our environment and way of life.”