100% Clean Electricity in Maryland
Maryland Governor Wes Moore ran for office on a promise to achieve 100% clean energy in Maryland by 2035. Achieving this goal will improve air quality, create local family-sustaining jobs, help slow global warming, and keep more of our energy dollars in Maryland.
Governor Moore was not alone in getting elected on a promise to eliminate climate pollution from the electricity sector. In 2022, 153 candidates for General Assembly and state offices all signed the 100% clean power pledge. Now it’s time to make it happen and pass 100% clean energy legislation in Maryland.
Maryland lawmakers all committed to 100% clean energy by 2035
(here we should list the lawmakers who signed our candidate pledge for 100% clean energy in 2022. I am having trouble finding that list and have asked Anne, who worked more closely on that in 2022 than I did, to help.)
Dozens of other states and localities across the country have already committed to 100% clean energy, some as early as 2032. Now it’s time for Maryland to join the list!
Email your lawmakers to say that you support 100% clean energy by 2035. Remind them of the pledge they signed, or urge them to support one now!
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The agricultural sector emits roughly 10% of the US’s greenhouse gas emissions, and we cannot ignore this contribution as the climate crisis worsens. This farm bill provides a major chance to confront the agricultural sector’s carbon emissions through climate-smart farming practices over the next five years. The programs in this bill “represent the largest source of federal funding for private landowners to preserve and steward their lands, waters, and wildlife for current and future generations,” according to the Center for American Progress.
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What would 100% clean energy look like?
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Massively building out offshore wind
Achieving 100% clean energy in Maryland will involve the largest ever build out of offshore wind in Maryland’s history. Maryland is currently building 1.7 gigawatts of offshore wind, and will hopefully be procuring an additional 1-2 gigawatts of offshore wind within the next year. A policy for 100% clean energy would purchase and develop more than 5 gigawatts of additional offshore wind energy, allowing Maryland to meet our goal of 8.5 gigawatts of offshore wind, as established in the Powering Offshore Wind Energy Resources (POWER) Act.
Growing utility-scale solar
Maryland currently requires utilities to source 14.5% of their electricity from in-state solar by 2030, a goal that all utilities are behind on meeting. A 100% clean energy policy will help Maryland meet its existing solar requirements while also further expanding the in-state solar carve out by 2035.
Clean up the RPS
Even as Maryland’s clean energy policies have helped build up the wind and solar industries in Maryland, they have also provided subsidies to dirty sources of energy that should not be included in the state’s Renewable Portfolio Standard, like emissions from landfills, wood waste, and more. Trash incineration emits pollution that creates a public health crisis, particularly in minority communities. Incineration facilities such as Baltimore City’s BRESCO plant emit high levels of health-hazardous air pollution, harm water, and soil quality, contribute to respiratory, cardiovascular, and other ailments, and add to climate disruption.
Cutting the state subsidies to dirty energy sources must be a critical component of any 100% clean energy policy.
We need to clean up our air and prevent global warming
Minority and low-income communities are overburdened by air and water pollution from energy generation and are underserved by the benefits of climate action. Poor air quality leads to over 100,000 deaths in the U.S. each year, but BIPOC communities are 79% more likely to live near air pollution sources. Due to continuous exposure to toxic emissions, these communities are at greater risk of cancer, neurological issues, heart and respiratory illness, with black children being 500% more likely to die of asthma. In Baltimore City, home of BRESCO, the rate of asthma emergency rate visits is 2.5 times higher than the Maryland average.
Meanwhile, Maryland is a coastal state with 3,000 miles of tidal shoreline, making us one of the most vulnerable states in America to sea-level rise.
There are many reasons to move away from fossil fuels and towards clean energy. Let’s make it happen!
Email your Maryland lawmakers today! Urge them to support a policy for 100% clean power by 2035.
100% clean power by 2035!
Email your Maryland lawmakers today! Urge them to support a policy for 100% clean power by 2035. Send a message to your representatives in Congress urging them to pass a climate-smart farm bill! We need agriculture legislation that prioritizes sustainable farming, rural clean energy, nutrition security, and environmental justice.
