…This crossed the State House News Service wire:
Less than two years after it won overwhelming passage in the House and Senate, a bill intended to streamline the permitting process for land-based wind turbines was buried in study Tuesday by a legislative committee, likely denying the Patrick administration a long-held priority in its effort to increase renewable energy production.
Rep. John Keenan, co-chair of the Committee on Telecommunications,Utilities and Energy, also put the brakes on a proposal by Gov. Deval Patrick to add a 5-cent deposit to the cost of water, juice and sports drink bottles, a plan the governor intends to include in his budget proposal, slated for a Wednesday release. Although Keenan said the bottler ecycling proposal could reemerge later in the session as a standalone bill, he said the plan would not be included as part of the Legislature’s annual budget process.
In this specific case, the committee’s actions speak a bit louder than Patrick’s 3,400-word speech.
