The Environment

The climate crisis poses an existential threat that requires urgent and immediate action. To meet this moment, it is vital that Maryland transition to a greener, more efficient, and more reliable energy grid through both enhanced energy generation and distribution. In addition to a $90M investment in decarbonization programs, I have worked with my colleges in the senate to pass legislation that will:

• Require State agencies and electric companies to pursue federal funding under the Inflation Reduction Act to invest in demand-side methods and technology to improve reliability and efficiency;
• Allocate 15% of all corporate tax revenue generated by data centers to the Maryland Strategic Energy Investment Fund while bolstering backup generation for critical infrastructure;
• Reform the EmPOWER program, which has saved ratepayers $4B, to align its goals to the Climate Solutions Now Act of 2022 by achieving greenhouse gas emissions reductions;
• Incentivize the development of solar energy in Maryland through the Brighter Tomorrow Act (SB783);
• Strengthen our ability to meet our offshore wind energy generation goals while retaining the existing ratepayer cap protections (HB1296); and
• Create a pilot program for the transition of natural gas infrastructure to network geothermal in low-income communities to benefit neighborhoods using available federal funding (SB570/HB397).

Baltimore has the highest emissions-related mortality rate in the nation with 130 out of every 100,000 residents likely to die prematurely in a given year due to long-term exposure to air pollution, which disproportionately affects communities of color. Clean renewable energy, such as wind and solar, does not have these harmful emissions.

I have been a strong supporter of efforts to increase the amount of clean renewable energy used in Maryland and I was proud to cast my vote to override the Governor’s veto of the 2016 Clean Energy Jobs Act. We are now on track to achieve 25% renewable energy by 2020.