R.I. Bills Address Solar Panel Recycling, Plastic Bag Ban
By TIM FAULKNER/ecoRI News staff
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| A House bill would require solar panel manufacturers to recycle their equipment when it stops producing energy. (ecoRI News) |
Key environmental bills are being debated but their fate is unclear as legislative activity increases in the General Assembly and a new governor settles in.
At the start of the 2021 session, it was expected that bills derailed last year by the coronavirus pandemic, such as a statewide plastic bag ban, would sail through both chambers.
On Feb. 26, 2020, the bag ban bill
passed the Senate with the backing from Senate President Dominick Ruggerio and
support from then-Gov. Gina Raimondo. But the pace is sluggish this year for
the ban and other environmental legislation, and new Gov. Daniel McKee has yet
to layout an environmental agenda.
At this point, the 2021 Act on Climate legislation
is showing the most promise. The bill establishes enforceable
climate-emission-reduction targets. The full Senate is expected pass its bill (S0078) March 16. The
House will likely vote its version (H5445) out of committee
March 18.
Here is a look at a few bills that had hearings last week:
Solar panel recycling
A newcomer to the crowded field of environmental legislation is a bill (H5525) requiring solar
panel manufacturers to recycle their equipment when it stops producing energy.
This concept of producer responsibility has been pushed by the environmental
community for hard-to-dispose-of products such as mattresses, paint cans, and
light bulbs.
The legislation is supported by the Product
Stewardship Institute, a national producer responsibility advocacy group that
has already advanced six takeback programs in Rhode Island.
According to the International Renewable Energy
Agency, planning should be underway to address the estimated 10
million tons of solar panel waste that will be discarded in the United States
by 2050.
The bill requires manufacturers to fund a program that collects and processes old panels and recovers rare earth elements and toxic materials like lead. Drop-off locations must be established in each of Rhode Island’s five counties to process at least 85 percent of old solar panels.
The Rhode Island
Department of Environmental Management (DEM) would oversee the program and
assess fines of up to $10,000 for solar panel sales that occur in the state
without a stewardship program.
At a March 11 hearing, local solar installers warned that the the
bill would hurt business. They argued that only the state of Washington has
such a law. It passed in 2017 but has been delayed until 2023 because of
implementation problems.
“It would basically be a ban on the sale of solar panels in Rhode Island,” said Eric Beecher, founder of solar panel installer Sol Power, based in Charlestown.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Sol Power was Charlestown's choice as contractor for the townwide Solarize Charlestown that gave homeowners a group discount to get solar panels installed. We were one of the families who did that and we're glad we did it. Will Collette
Beecher said his company already recycles panels that are damaged or no longer useful. Solar industry business groups such as the Solar Energy Industries Association have established nationwide standards for solar panel recycling.
Doug Sabetti, owner of Newport Solar, said most solar panels have
a life of 30 years. It will be at least 15 years before a significant number of
panels will go offline, he said.
“This bill will create havoc if just a few installers comply with
this,” Sabetti said.
Jeremy McDiarmid of the Northeast Clean Energy Council
said most installers already recycle old panels, while jobs would be lost if
the state enacted this without its neighbors.
“Manufacturers would simply opt out of the Rhode Island market and
create a significant set of challenges for the one thousand solar workers,” he
said.
Henry Boeniger, lobbyist for Cranston-based wind and solar
developer Green Development LLC, explained that most cities and towns in the
state already require bonds for the proper disposal of retired solar equipment.
“With Rhode Island’s goal of seeking to obtain 100% of electricity
from renewable energy by 2030, this bill would certainly be a deterrent to
achieving that objective,” Boeniger wrote in submitted testimony.
Rep. Brian Patrick Kennedy, D-Hopkinton, sponsored the bill to
address the problem of large ground-mounted solar projects displacing undeveloped
land.
“When you see 80,000 trees taken down to put up a solar facility,
and what guarantee do you have that at the end of the life of that facility
there is going to be somebody there that’s going ensure that those panels be
taken away and recycled,” he said. “There are no guarantees and no community
has been able to get a single guarantee from a single installer of these large
facilities.”
The House bill was co-sponsored by other moderate Democrats and
Republicans: Samuel Azzinaro, D-Westerly; Julie Casimiro, D-North Kingstown;
John Edwards, D-Portsmouth; Michael Chippendale, R-Coventry; and Blake Filippi,
R-Charlestown. EDITOR'S NOTE: Blake "Flip" Filippi, Charlestown's state rep, is by no reasonable definition a "moderate." For example, Flip has represented private armed militias and has spoken at their rallies.
Kennedy’s reasoning seems to suggest that he is more concerned
about where solar arrays are built rather than the recycling of panels. Bills
to establish statewide siting standards and encourage siting on buildings and
developed land such as landfills and parking lots have died in committee.
A resolution (H5524) offered by Rep.
Lauren Carson, D-Newport, requests that the state create a map and spreadsheet
of existing, proposed, and approved commercial solar arrays. The report would
complement an analysis released by the
state in 2020 showing preferred locations for building solar installations.
Like most bills heard for the first time, H5525 and H5524 were
held for further study by the House Environment and Natural Resources
Committee. Several committee members suggested that H5525 be revised before it
advances or have the topic of solar panel recycling vetted through a study
commission.
Plastic bag ban
Seventeen municipalities in Rhode Island, representing 55 percent of the
population, have bans on plastic retail bags. But environmental advocates say a
full statewide ban is needed to keep waterways clean and protect habitat,
wildlife, and infrastructure.
House bill H5358 hasn’t changed
from last year. It retains the stitched-handle provision that prevents
retailers from offering thicker plastic bags. It has no fee on paper bags, and
it includes a provision that prevents municipalities from adopting more
stringent bag bans.
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, many communities suspended their
bans because of paper bag shortages and unfounded fears pushed by
the plastics lobby that paper bags and reusable bags spread the coronavirus.
The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Carol Hagan McEntee, D-South Kingstown,
noted that only one of the two towns she represents, South Kingstown,
authorized a bag ban, while Narragansett hasn’t.
“It’s kind of shocking,” she said. “You go to the CVS in South
Kingstown, you get a paper bag or you bring your own bag. You go to the CVS in
Narragansett — what can it be 3 miles away — and you get a plastic bag. So it’s
time to stop this.”
As in previous years, the legislation is opposed by the Rhode
Island Food Dealers Association and the American Recyclable Plastic Bag Alliance
(ARPBA), which represents plastic bag manufactures and recyclers.
Zachary Taylor, director of ARPBA, advocated for maintaining
in-store plastic bag collection programs that downcycle the bags into railroad
ties, synthetic lumber, asphalt, and new bags. He said reusable bags should be
defined based on durability.
The statewide bag ban is supported by the Audubon Society of Rhode
Island, Clean Ocean Access, Clean Water Action, The Nature Conservancy, the
Conservation Law Foundation, Save The Bay, and DEM.
The Rhode Island League of Cities and Towns opposes the provision
that preempts municipalities from passing more stringent bag ban rules.
“We believe that local governments should be able to respond to
the evolving needs of their communities and pass additional ordinances if they
deem them necessary, particularly with regard to definitions and enforcement,”
according to unsigned letter from the
municipal advocacy group.
The Rhode Island Food Dealers Association and the Rhode Island
chapter of the Surfrider Foundation asked that retailers be required to assess
a fee on paper bags to increase the use of reusable bags.
“The purpose of these fees is not to collect fees from shoppers in
perpetuity. It is to properly encourage reusable bag use, which data proves
requires fees,” according to a letter from Stan Brajer and Melissa Gates of the
Surfrider Foundation.
The American Forest & Paper Association objected to the mandate
that paper bags contain at least 40 percent post-consumer content because it
raises manufacturing costs.
The Senate version of the bill (S0037) was heard by the
Senate Environment and Agriculture Committee on Feb. 24. Both were first
hearings and held for further study.
