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MARYLAND ISSUES

Gov, Larry Hogan's hypocrisy on climate change and fracked gas.

Hogan has been profoundly duplicitous on fracked gas and climate change. I serve on the Maryland Commission on Climate Change (MCCC) and have seen firsthand the governor’s policies that make Maryland’s contribution to global warming worse. As Hogan and his senior staff know, climate change is being exacerbated by emissions of methane gas from the drilling and combustion associated with fracking. Isotope measurements show fossil fuels contribute significantly more to the levels of methane in the atmosphere than previously understood — and natural gas is the biggest culprit. Each methane molecule has a heat-trapping potential up to 86 times greater than carbon dioxide. This is one of the reasons Maryland legislature banned fracked-gas drilling in 2017. Hogan signed that bill, yet he accelerated his policy “kick-starting” greater combustion of fracked gas in Maryland, while vetoing legislation promoting wind and solar power. His administration has been actively helping Canadian gas companies sidestep the drilling ban by importing fracked gas and promoting its consumption. He is partnering with fossil fuel giant TransCanada to pipe Pennsylvania fracked gas through Maryland and has a $100 million plan to increase gas use and build pipelines across the state. Hogan uses outdated data to claim fracked gas is somehow a clean energy, while he ignores the avalanche of new data which was presented to the MCCC — showing fracked gas probably is worse for the climate than coal.The trends are scientifically established: extreme precipitation events such as the Ellicott City floods are happening with 50 percent greater frequency along the East Coast, according to data from NOAA. And a 2014 federal report says it is highly likely that heavy precipitation events will increase because of climate change. The more slowly we react to global warming, the more severe the threats. Hogan should stop misleading Marylanders on fracked gas and start really supporting wind and solar power.
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Governor Hogan failed to order a safety study for the Cove Point LNG facility

A team from Cove Point visited the Governor's office to discuss about the potential hazards that the gas refinery, power plant and export terminal being built by the Virginia-based Dominion Energy poses to the community in Cove Point. The next day, almost a year to the day that We Are Cove Point initiated the petition campaign to ask Governor Hogan to order a safety study, his office responded with an official “NO.” They said the Governor supports Dominion’s project and will not order a safety study. But even if he supports the project, that shouldn’t come before protecting his constituents. There is no excuse to forego a safety study so that Marylanders know the risks. We Are Cove Point is a coalition of people and organizations who are working together to stop a new liquefied fracked gas export terminal that Dominion Resources is building in the residential community of Cove Point in Lusby, Maryland.
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