CALL MCKEE OR CALL YOUR HEATING OIL COMPANY TO SAY GOODBYE
| This week Senate and House committees will again be voting on the Climate Bill, H5445/S078, which requires Rhode Islanders to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases they put into the atmosphere. The bill requires that the amount of greenhouse gases Rhode Island produces be reduced by 45 percent by 2030, by 80 percent by 2040 and reach net zero by 2050. In 2016, the Executive Climate Change Coordinating Council (EC4) came out with a plan to achieve reductions. To reduce greenhouse gases by 45 percent, we would need 33 percent of residential homes heating with electricity. To reduce greenhouse gases by 80 percent, we would need 81 percent of residential homes heating with electricity. (See page 11 of the RI Greenhouse Reduction Plan). Rhode Island Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction Plan (ri.gov). About 10 percent of Rhode Islanders use electric heat, while about 29 percent heat with fuel oil. https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?g=0400000US44&tid=ACSDP1Y2019.DP04&hidePreview=true. The state’s consultant estimated the typical cost for installing an electric heat system to be about $19,700 or $34,200 (See page 16 of Heating Sector Technical Support Document) Heating Sector Transformation in Rhode Island: Technical Support Document (ri.gov) The R.I. Republican Party has the following comments: “If this bill becomes law, it will come at a high cost to Rhode Islanders. For example, within ten years, many Rhode Islanders will be forced to stop using fuel oil to heat their homes and instead be required to use electric heat, which is generally more expensive. The EC4’s plan makes it clear that 33 percent of homes must use electric heat for Rhode Island to reduce greenhouse gases by 45 percent. About 29 percent of Rhode Islanders use fuel oil for heat. To convert them all to electric heat, assuming the cost of installing a new electric heat system is about $20,000, it could cost about $2 BILLION dollars. The General Assembly is about to pass legislation without any financial or economic analysis about how much it will cost us. This is simply legislative malpractice. In Massachusetts, Governor Baker recently vetoed climate legislation. After the Democrat controlled Massachusetts legislature made some changes to the bill, Baker finally gave in and signed it. However, Baker’s secretary of energy and environmental affairs stated that to “require nearly every home that is heated with oil” in Massachusetts to “be converted to an electric heat pump” could cost “$3 billion over the decade” (CommonWealth Magazine 1/24/21). Once this bill becomes law, it could become impossible to change. If you don’t want to be forced someday to install a new expensive electric heating system, call Governor McKee and tell him to stand up for the little guy and veto this legislation. Call your legislator too. Don’t bother calling House Speaker Joe Shekarchi. He is just too busy representing solar developers to listen to you. Then make one more call. Call your heating oil company. Thank them for their years of service. Let them know you don’t want to see them forced out of business.” |
| The Rhode Island Republican Party | 1800 Post Road, Suite 17-I, Warwick, RI 02886 |