Way back 2018 at least $5.3 million were spent by energy corporations and other groups, efforts were put up in hopes of getting through to Beacon Hill legislators and policymakers.
According to reports, some of the companies that spent the most amount was associated with companies with renewable energy. This does not go as far as the numbers in 2017, where several groups also spent an amount of almost $5.1 million on lobbying alone.
From the records way back in 2015, the amount spent on lobbying has increased by more than two folds. In 2015 there were two dozen companies who reported about lobbying and summing all of them to an amount of $1.2million. Now the amount for lobbying has increased above marginal levels.
Due to the shift of energy resource in Massachusetts, it has already increased its spending capacity to a maximum, with the rise of different forms of energy power plants – wind, solar, hydro. This also includes Martha’s Vineyard or also known as the largest industrial-scale wind-powered power plant.
This is due to the 2016 bipartisan energy bill signed by Republican Gov. Charlie Baker. The bill allows the usage of clean energy generation in the state; this also includes wind energy powered power plants.
NextEra Energy was the top company in 2018 that spent most on lobbying, calling itself as one of the top utility companies and the largest producer of solar and wind energy. $372,00 was spent on lobbying alone.
“We regularly engage constructively in public policy discussions that affect our business activities in the region,” Joe Dalton, a representative from NextEra said. “We work to be completely comprehensive and transparent in our costs, ranging from phone, travel, and staff time for meetings, to the full retainer of a public affairs firm.”
The amount spent on lobbying has been increasing for the past two years it has already increased more than 200% of its price. Companies have been putting and stressing so many efforts in lobbying and innovating a cleaner way of having a source of energy in the state.
