Maryland's Commitment to Global Warming Solutions

What's New

Gov. O’Malley issued an executive order on April 20 creating the Commission on Climate Change to determine what actions Maryland should take to address global warming. Among other tasks, the commission will recommend a target pollution reduction level. Its report, recommending pollution reductions of up to 90% by 2050, was released in November 2007. Read our press release>>

Learn more -- See the executive order

Scientists have made it clear that we need to reduce pollution by 20 percent by 2020 and 80 percent by 2050 in order to avoid the worst impacts of global warming. Maryland should make a firm commitment to this science-based level of pollution reduction, then get to work designing effective programs to meet that commitment.

Watch two Maryland elected officials debate the Global Warming Solutions Act>>

The Solution: The Maryland Global Warming Solutions Act

This bill essentially does three things:

1. Limits: It establishes limits on greenhouse gas emissions based on what is scientifically necessary. Maryland would need to reduce its emissions by 25 percent below 2006 levels by 2020 and 90 percent by 2050. The first limit is achievable with current technology, while the 2050 limit would require technological breakthroughs.
   
2. Timelines: It creates timelines for state agencies to design cost-effective programs to meet the emission limits. Regulations for policies that are close to the rulemaking stage already would get finalized by September 2009. Policies that need more work to develop would be done by June 2010. Complicated policies for which we want to use regulations developed by other states would have a June 2011 deadline.
   
3. Cap-and-Trade: It creates a cap-and-trade system so that companies can continue to search for the cheapest ways to comply.

Achieving the Emission Reductions
Recently enacted legislation, including the Healthy Air Act, the Clean Cars Act and other bills, will achieve more than one-quarter of the reductions required by this bill. The rest would come from a major new statewide energy efficiency program, increased use of renewable energy and clean fuels, smart growth measures, green building codes, and the construction of small, efficient power plants to gradually replace massive, old-fashioned plants. Other reductions would come from carbon sequestration projects, such as planting forest buffers along tributaries to the Chesapeake Bay, innovative agricultural practices, and saltwater marsh restoration.

How You Can Help
Send an email to the governor and the commissioners urging them to make a firm commitment to science-based reduction in global warming pollution.

Take action -- Send an email to Gov. O'Malley

Other ways to take action...
Have a house party to spread the word about Global Warming Solutions in Maryland, write a letter to the editor or organize a constituent meeting with your elected official.
Learn more>>

Background
The coast of the Chesapeake Bay is particularly vulnerable to sea level rise, given its low slope. The problem in Maryland is exacerbated by the gradual sinking of land due to geological forces. Sea level rise already consumes at least 260 acres of coastal land in Maryland each year. Large portions of the 26,000-acre Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge are already flooded.

Increased storm activity will also result from global warming. We all remember the devastating impacts of Hurricane Isabel. If storms similar to that were to occur more frequently, it would do immense damage to the state’s economy.

Other impacts of global warming include increased spread of infectious disease, reduced crop yields, worsened health impacts of air pollution, deadly heat waves, and ecosystem shifts.

The federal government is not taking action on this issue, but America is acting nonetheless. State by state, governors and legislatures are making commitments to real reductions. Taken together, this action is putting a big dent in global warming pollution and will stimulate federal policy and international treaties.

Scientists predict that we will need to reduce emissions of global warming pollution by at least 20 percent by 2020 and at least 80 percent by 2050 if we are going to avoid the worst impacts of global warming. Maryland should commit to making the reduction that science finds to be necessary. Policy makers and business leaders can design programs that achieve the reductions in the most cost-effective way once the commitment is made.

Fortunately, we know all of the first steps that are needed to achieve the necessary reductions in pollution. The most important decision is to put them into place without delay. Over the next 15 years we can deploy the cleaner technologies that we already have but are not using much. This gives us time to develop and implement more advanced technologies after 2020.

The steps to meet our 2020 goals include measures to:

• Modernize appliances and machinery so that they use less energy.
• Increase renewable energy.
• Set standards for green buildings.
• Upgrade power plants so they waste less energy.
• Phase in fuel from natural sources like soybeans and switchgrass.