Act on Climate in Maryland

Howard County has a lot of upcoming legislation with hearings scheduled in September. This includes CB38-2019, the Protect This Watershed bill.

Councilwoman Liz Walsh's CB38-2019 is a very big bill that is responding to the problem of waivers in the Patapsco Lower North Branch Watershed. Many laws involving the environment include waivers at the discretion of the overseeing agency, mainly to provide needed flexibility in unforeseen circumstances. When waivers become routine practice, they undermine the effectiveness of that legislation. 

Burning trash is not clean energy. When incinerators burn trash, they emit more greenhouse gasses per unit of energy generated than even coal, the dirtiest of fossil fuels. Unfortunately, Maryland currently subsidizes trash incinerators in our state’s Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) - giving taxpayer money to the incinerators as if they are clean sources of energy like solar or wind.

The days are now getting shorter, and while we’ve rolled back our clocks we will not roll back our water protections. Here’s what your Maryland Clean Water Action office has been up to as we fight federal rollbacks and push Maryland forward.