Environmental
Groups Call for a Firm Commitment from the State
Baltimore – New
research shows that the levels of reductions in global warming pollution called
for by the world’s leading scientists are possible to achieve in Maryland.
According to a study led by Environment
Maryland Research & Policy
Center, the state can use policy
tools available today to reduce its emissions by 23 percent by 2020, more than
the 20 percent figure that scientists have agreed is necessary for the
industrialized world.
“We have the technology today to put Maryland
on course to fully address our global warming pollution,” said Brad Heavner,
state director of Environment Maryland
Research & Policy Center.
“It will take a lot of work to put all the programs in place, but we can and we
must live up to the challenge.”
The report, Blueprint
for Action: Policy Options to Reduce Maryland’s Contribution to Global Warming,
outlines four steps already being implemented and nine further strategies that
the state needs to take. These strategies include:
- Increase the renewable energy standard that
currently requires utilities to get 9.5 percent of their electricity from
renewable sources by 2022.
-
Begin a major new energy efficiency initiative,
making use of every cost-effective approach to saving energy that can be found.
-
Promote green buildings through stronger codes
for new buildings and retrofits of older buildings.
“In
the absence of firm federal reductions, Maryland needs to assert itself in
addressing global warming, just like it did in passing the Healthy Air Act and
Clean Car legislation,” said Senator Paul G. Pinsky, lead Senate sponsor of the
Global Warming Solutions Act and the nationally recognized Healthy Air Act.
The
Healthy Air Act, passed by the Maryland General Assembly last year to reduce
emissions from the oldest power plants in the state, accounts for 15 percent of
the savings needed to meet the 2020 goal put forward by the scientific and
environmental communities. The legislation required Maryland
to become a member of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, the first
cap-and-trade program to control carbon dioxide emissions in the United
States.
The Clean Cars Act, passed this year, accounts for 12
percent of the needed savings. Altogether, Maryland
is 32 percent of the way to achieving the levels of pollution reduction needed
to address global warming. The General Assembly has already begun debating, but
not yet passed, many of the other proposals in the report. A bill to establish
a statewide cap on greenhouse gas emissions did not come to a vote this year.
“Addressing
climate change and greenhouse gas emissions is perhaps the most pressing
environmental challenge facing Maryland’s
future,” said Shari T. Wilson, secretary of the Maryland Department of the Environment.
“Governor O’Malley has taken significant steps to address climate change by joining
the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative and signing the Clean Cars Act into law.
We must continue to take action to address climate change, as decisions we make
today will influence Maryland's
health and vitality long into the future.”
Gov. Martin O’Malley signed an executive order in April
creating the Maryland Commission on Climate Change. Among other duties, this
commission will create a target level of emission reduction and devise an
official strategy for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The first meeting is
expected in the coming weeks, and the first report is due in November.
Much of the work that will be required to address global
warming comes down to using energy more efficiently.
“Improved
energy efficiency in homes could be the largest contributor to clean energy,”
said Doris Iklé, president of CMC Energy Services. “Plus, by choosing energy
efficiency, energy bills are reduced an average of 25 percent. For BGE
customers, investing in energy would lower the 50 percent price increase to a
12.5 percent increase.”
The state’s leading environmental groups have teamed up to
jointly call for a commitment to science-based reductions in global warming
pollution. These groups include Environment
Maryland Research & Policy
Center, Chesapeake Climate Action
Network, Maryland League of Conservation Voters Education Fund, Chesapeake Bay
Foundation and the Sierra Club.
“The contrarians are releasing a well-planned barrage of
anti-climate science positions that range from semi-legitimate, but erroneous,
statements to the worst kind of nonsense written by nonscientists,” said Dr.
Stuart Jordan, a retired senior scientist at NASA. “The motives vary, but the
wish not to change existing ways of making money can often be seen operating
behind the scenes.”
