EPA says MD exceeds pollution limits for SOx
"Large parts of Anne Arundel and Baltimore counties may be exposed to sulfur dioxide emissions that violate national air quality standards, the Environmental Protection Agency”
User-Submitted Citation
MD rolls back technology standards for septic systems
"Some environmental advocates worry that a state plan to roll back regulations for septic systems in parts of Maryland could stall efforts to clean up the Chesapeake Bay."
User-Submitted Citation
Hogan withdrew power plant clean air regulations.
Days after taking office, Governor Hogan blocked, and eventually gutted, previously-adopted and finalized air quality improvement regulations for the state. The Governor’s replacement instead allowed some of Maryland’s coal plants to avoid installation of modern smokestack controls for smog-forming nitrogen oxide pollution. This summer, twelve Maryland Counties, covering over 88 percent of Maryland’s population, were designated by the US Environmental Protection Agency in non-attainment with the health-based 2015 Ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards.
MD withdraws opposition to coal-ash dumping in Potomac.
" Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan’s administration is withdrawing its opposition to a Dominion Virginia Power plan to release coal-ash water into a creek that flows into the Potomac River after the utility company agreed to stricter testing standards."
User-Submitted Citation
Hogan vetoes renewable energy bill
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan vetoed a bill Friday that would have required the state’s electricity suppliers to get more power from renewable sources. Hogan, a Republican who ran for office on a pledge to lower taxes, said the energy bill was effectively a tax increase on electricity ratepayers, saying they would have to pay more for costlier power generated by wind, solar and other renewable sources.
User-Submitted Citation
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.
User-Submitted Citation
Hogan's soft line on fossil fuels
The Hogan administration recently announced the approval of a Nontidal Wetlands and Waterways permit for a fracked gas pipeline that would slice through Western Maryland and waived its right to perform a full, independent review of the pipeline under the Clean Water Act. The proposed “Potomac pipeline” is a project of TransCanada — the same company that is behind the controversial Keystone XL Pipeline — and would drill under the Potomac River, one of our state’s most important natural resources.
Is this how our state wants to respond to dangerous climate change and transition Maryland away from fossil fuels?
There appears to be a troubling trend toward leniency for fossil fuels in the state.
The author, Shane Robinson, introduced House Bill 1826, emergency legislation that would require MDE to conduct a full, independent analysis of pipeline projects proposed in sensitive geology and not allow the agency to voluntary waive its right to conduct such an analysis. In order to rectify MDE’s failure, the bill also requires the state to deny without prejudice the current application of the Potomac pipeline and go back to conduct a full 401 review should TransCanada wish to move forward. This is what Marylanders want and what they deserve.
User-Submitted Citation
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.
User-Submitted Citation
