Gov. Charlie Baker has linked his $9.7 billion infrastructure bond bill to efforts to limit the impact of climate change and reduce its disproportionate impacts on certain populations, but one environmental advocate told lawmakers Tuesday that the proposal’s language “fall(s) short on these priorities.”
Calling for the Legislature to think bigger, Conservation Law Foundation Staff Attorney Johannes Epke said Baker’s proposal includes an important focus on the transportation sector but does not go far enough to take advantage of a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
“Sprinkling a little climate change or equity into an otherwise pretty status quo bill that focuses a lot on highways and internal combustion engines is not going to get us where we need to go,” Epke said, stressing that CLF still supports Baker’s proposal. “We applaud the investments in public transit and vehicle charging stations and regional transit authorities as well as active modes of transportation — biking, walking, multimodal investments are all really important. We just think there needs to be a lot more of that in this bill.”
Lawmakers dove into the wide-ranging borrowing bill (H 4561) on Tuesday, slightly less than a month after Baker filed it with a call for prompt action to ensure Massachusetts does not miss an opportunity to dollars in the new federal infrastructure law to work.
The bill, which is likely to earn approval in some form from lawmakers, aims to maximize the impact of the billions of dollars Massachusetts expects to receive to modernize rail, repair aging highways and prepare infrastructure to survive in the face of climate change.
Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Kathleen Theoharides pitched the infrastructure bond bill as a complement to the 2021 climate law that committed Massachusetts to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 with interim targets along the way.
Transportation represents more than 40 percent of the state’s greenhouse gas emissions, the largest of any individual sector, making the field a top target for reform as administration officials prepare to roll out a multi-year plan this summer.
“This bill we really see as a way of enabling hitting those benchmarks that are spelled out in the clean energy climate plan,” Theoharides told the Transportation Committee. “This is how we’re going to go about funding a significant portion of the work on the transportation side.”
The bond bill calls for $5.4 billion in highway funding, $2.2 billion for the MBTA, $591 million for regional transit authorities, and $1.4 billion to improve environmental infrastructure.
Baker has described the total funding in two buckets: about $6.2 billion reflects combined state and federal formula funds set to flow over the next five years, and the remaining $3.5 billion would put on the table the matching funds and new staff needed for Massachusetts to compete for additional federal grants.
Transportation Secretary Jamey Tesler said about $4.1 billion of the total bottom line represents “pure federal aid,” and another $5.6 billion would be state borrowing authorization.
“A lot of that state aid … is to match the federal dollars,” he said.
Tesler has previously said the Bay State could get another $2 billion to $3 billion more in discretionary grants, substantially increasing the overall impact of the bipartisan law — that is, if state government can position itself to take advantage.
“When you apply for the federal grants, you’ve got to demonstrate you’ve got the state capacity available to deliver on our side of the equation,” Baker said Tuesday. “It’s critical that we work now to prepare for that and to have the authorizations in place so that we will be able to move quickly and efficiently to deliver additional federal funding to the commonwealth once those grant programs are designated, designed and the rules and processes associated with them are in place.”
Tom Ryan, a senior advisor with the A Better City business group, told lawmakers the competitive grants represent “the biggest opportunity in the bipartisan infrastructure bill.”
The U.S. Department of Transportation will have authority to carve up $105 billion of discretionary grants, significantly more than was available during the Obama administration, Ryan said.
“The magnitude of this opportunity cannot be overstated,” he said. “There is a nationwide competition for this $105 billion, and Massachusetts must be prepared to take full advantage. This means having funding ready, applying with our best projects, and being ready to deliver on the construction of these plans if we win an award.”
Ryan said applications for some grants that could go toward megaprojects will be due next month, urging the state to apply for money to buoy long-sought but expensive ideas such as a passenger rail extension to western Massachusetts or a Red Line-Blue Line connection.
The overlap between transportation and climate has already taken center stage on Beacon Hill as the Senate gears up to debate a bill this week (S 2819) that would drive new investments into electric vehicle infrastructure and incentives while reforming clean energy and construction practices.
Theoharides, who did not weigh in directly on the Senate’s climate bill, told the Transportation Committee that the state’s electric grid should be able to handle the demand imposed by 750,000 electric vehicles and 1 million homes retrofitted with heat pumps by 2030.
“We see the charging infrastructure as being perhaps more of a challenge than grid capacity,” she said.
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