SENATE DOCKET, NO. 1081        FILED ON: 1/13/2009

SENATE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 1479

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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In the Year Two Thousand Nine

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An Act relative to the production of wind energy in Boston harbor..

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
 

SECTION 1.   It is hereby found and declared that Boston Harbor is consistently an area that generates higher than average wind speeds, classified as level 4 for wind strength.

               It is further found that wind energy is considered a clean and renewable energy resource.

               It is further found that the Boston region is beset by high energy costs from fossil fuels that burden local businesses and residents, necessitating a need to consider alternative sources of power generation;

Therefore, notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, the Executive Office of Environmental Affairs, the Department of Environmental Protection and the Department of Telecommunications and Energy, working in conjunction with other relevant federal, state and local agencies and government departments and private and non-profit energy providers and advocacy organizations, is hereby required to conduct a study into the feasibility of wind energy generation in the area of Boston Harbor.  Said study must include an analysis of possible locations for the creation of a “wind energy farm” on a land site in Boston Harbor; the costs of creating such an operation; the environmental impacts of wind-energy; and the potential for a public-private partnership to generate wind energy in the Boston region.  The Executive Office of Environmental Affairs, the Department of Environmental Protection and the Department of Telecommunications and Energy must consider examples of successful wind energy production in other areas of the United States and in other nations, most notably in Western Europe and Asia, during said study.  Said study must be submitted to the General Court’s joint committee on energy no later than January 1, 2010.