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July 29, 2026 | Legal Update

Massachusetts Energy Facilities Siting Board Regulations for Large Clean Energy Facilities Now in Effect

Welcome to the July edition of Nutter’s Environment & Energy Insights, a periodic update of current trends in environment and energy law. For this month’s Insights, we are taking a deeper look at the permitting process for Large Clean Energy Infrastructure Facilities.

Building on last month’s discussion of the new permitting process for Small Clean Energy Infrastructure Facilities, this month we examine the regulatory framework applicable to Large Clean Energy Infrastructure Facilities. These large facilities are subject to a separate permitting process administered by the Energy Facilities Siting Board (“EFSB”). The new regulations took effect February 27, 2026 and apply to each application filed starting July 1, 2026.

Large facilities include (i) generation facilities of at least 25 megawatts, (ii) battery storage facilities of at least 100 megawatt-hours, and (iii) certain new/expanded transmission and distribution lines depending on the voltage and length. Under the new framework, the EFSB issues a single “EFSB Consolidated Permit” that serves as a composite of all state, regional, and local permits otherwise required to construct and operate. The EFSB is the one-stop permitting authority for these projects, and no separate consolidated local permit pathway is available. Like with small projects, applicants may also request a zoning exemption from the EFSB where the requirements of M.G.L. c. 40A, § 3 are satisfied (meaning that the project is “reasonably necessary for the convenience or welfare of the public”), which is adjudicated as part of the consolidated proceeding.

The EFSB must decide a large project application within 15 months of determining that an application is complete. If it does not act within that timeframe, the application is deemed constructively approved. No applicant may begin construction before its EFSB Consolidated Permit is approved.

EFSB Consolidated Permit Application Process

Key Requirements

• Before filing, applicants generally must complete pre-filing consultation and community engagement, and consult with each agency that would otherwise issue a permit.
• For good cause, the Director of the Division of Public Participation may grant a written waiver from the pre-filing rules if the applicant files a documented written request to all stakeholders and allows two weeks for comments from interested parties.
• Proposed facilities must satisfy the EFSB’s uniform baseline health, safety, environmental, and other standards, and the common conditions the EFSB establishes for the relevant facility type.

Application Contents

An application must include, among other things:

• A completed application summary form and a description of the project, site, and surrounding area, with maps, figures, and drawings.
• A description of public accessibility of project information and a summary of pre-filing and continuing consultation and community engagement.
• An analysis of the project’s benefits and reliability, its consideration of foreseeable climate change impacts, and how it complies with relevant policies of the Commonwealth.
• A Cumulative Impact Analysis and Site Suitability Reports, and a description of environmental impacts across resource areas such as land, water, air quality, public health and safety, historical resources, noise, and visual impacts, with efforts to avoid, minimize, and mitigate each burden.
• A decommissioning and site restoration plan, or an explanation of why none is required.
• For large clean distribution and transmission projects, the application must also demonstrate the need for the facility, evaluate project and route alternatives, address route and site selection and Criteria-Specific Suitability Scores, and analyze cost estimates and impacts on ratepayers. For large generation and storage facilities, the application must describe the site selection process, alternative sites considered, and the applicable Suitability Scores.

The application must also package the underlying permits. For each required state and local permit, the applicant submits the completed permit application, a draft proposed permit incorporating applicable common conditions and baseline standards, the specific permitting agency’s written comments from agency consultation, and the fee the permitting agency would otherwise charge. Federal permits are listed for informational purposes only, though the applicant may request that the EFSB issue a permit for any federal permit where decision-making authority has been delegated to the state.

Review Process

Completeness Determination

A Presiding Officer reviews each application and issues a written completeness determination within 30 days of filing. The determination is administrative rather than a review on the merits, and is not appealable. If an application is incomplete, the Presiding Officer identifies each deficiency, and the applicant has 30 days to cure; an application may be found incomplete only twice before it is rejected. Once an application substantially and materially complies, the Presiding Officer issues a Notice of Completeness, which starts the statutory review clock.

Adjudication and Conditions

Following a Notice of Completeness, the Presiding Officer conducts an adjudicatory proceeding on behalf of the EFSB. Each permitting agency that would have had subject matter jurisdiction over a permit in the application is deemed substantially and specifically affected and is granted intervenor status upon written notification; Permit Advisory Agencies (those agencies that would otherwise advise permitting agencies but lack direct permitting authority) may also intervene. The schedule generally includes a public comment hearing within 45 days of the Notice of Completeness, deadlines for intervention and comment, information and record requests, pre-filed testimony, evidentiary hearings, and briefing. Each permitting agency and party may submit recommended permit conditions, and the Presiding Officer convenes a Conditions Conference before circulating a recommended set.

EFSB Decision and Constructive Approval

The EFSB approves, approves with conditions, or rejects each application, giving due consideration to the substantive standards of the applicable permitting statutes, regulations, and permitting agency guidance. If approved, it issues an EFSB Consolidated Permit as a composite of all individual permits – and any zoning exemptions – otherwise necessary to construct and operate the project, and identifies the entity with jurisdiction to enforce each condition. If the EFSB does not issue a final decision within the 15-month timeframe, the application is deemed constructively approved, subject only to the EFSB’s common conditions.

Enforcement

Each permitting agency enforces the conditions within its jurisdiction, while the EFSB enforces any condition falling outside a permitting agency’s jurisdiction. Alleged violations may be reported through an accessible portal established by the EFSB.

This advisory was prepared by Matthew Connolly, Michelle Kenyon, and Matthew Snell in Nutter’s Environment and Energy practice group. If you would like additional information, please contact any member of our practice group or your Nutter attorney at 617.439.2000.

This update is for information purposes only and should not be construed as legal advice on any specific facts or circumstances. Under the rules of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, this material may be considered as advertising.