Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker last week cited high costs in vetoing legislation that would have moved the state toward achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. 

Massachusetts GHG emissions by source

One of the major goals of the legislation was to ban the sale of new gasoline-powered vehicles by 2035 and transition to battery, fuel cell and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. 

The bill also covered future management of forests and soil, as it would have added 100,000 acres over the next 10 years to develop practice-based forest resilience and a carbon storage program. 

The ambitious aspects of the bill came down to its deadlines on carbon emissions. The state lawmakers had passed the bill to reduce carbon emissions in 2030 by 50% below 1990 levels, then falling to 75% below those levels by 2040, and by 100%...