Angie McCarthy with Senator Brooks, who is championing the Affordable Abundant Clean Energy Act, in Annapolis alongside environmental advocates from Maryland LCV, CCAN, Sierra Club, and others.
What is the Issue?
Energy has been the focus of Maryland’s General Assembly. Most of Nature Forward’s priority bills this session have championed clean energy and ways we can support it. On the flip side, we are fighting against bad energy bills.
Bills like the Next Generation Energy Act have elements we must oppose. Much of this bill is progressive, and our partners are working to include the battery storage provisions from the Affordable Abundant Clean Energy Act, the STRIDE ratepayer protection reform, and removing trash incineration from the Renewable Portfolio Standard. However, the bill also includes a dangerous provision that would fast track gas and nuclear power plants. Here’s some background: the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has approved PJM’s, our region’s transmission and electric grid operator, request to allow gas-powered plants to jump to the front of the interconnection queue. PJM, whose mismanagement has lead to increasing electric bills and concerns around grid reliability, is tilting the scales in favor of fossil fuels to fix their mess. However, PJM’s effort to increase grid reliability through fossil fuels is likely in vain since gas plants take many years to build, leaving us in the same rut but with fossil fuel plants polluting our air. Read more about the opposition here.
The legislation allows for the Public Service Commission to expedite the permitting process for “dispatchable” energy, which includes gas fired power plants. This would apply to applications that were “previously or (are) currently used for electricity generation.” Additionally, these projects would be exempt from public notice and environmental justice review. SB937 also allows for large industrial customers, like data centers, to work directly with gas plants, bypassing public ratepayer protections and traditional grid interconnection requirements. This is a complete erosion of the community input and environmental justice protections we have championed.
This legislation is framed as a solution to grid reliability concerns, which we at Nature Forward share. However, the bill paves a path for new gas plants to be constructed across Maryland, cementing a reliance on fossil fuel infrastructure for decades. The bill significantly weakens regulatory oversight and limits public input, at a time when we are seeing safety and environmental provisions being struck down at the federal level. You can read more here.
Where Can New Gas Go?
Current power plant locations within the state of Maryland.
Source: https://dnr.maryland.gov/pprp/Pages/PowerPlant-Locations.aspx
The permitting exemptions would allow companies to build new gas-fired power plants at any of the locations listed below, which include retired plants. With this legislation, the PSC would eliminate both public notice for the pre-application and an environmental justice screening. The facility would effectively be presumed to be approved by the PSC. Thank you to the Sierra Club for researching a short list of possible sites that this legislation might impact:
MONTGOMERY COUNTY
- Dickerson Coal Generating Facility
- Montgomery County Resource Recovery Facility
- Gude Landfill
- National Institutes of Health Co-Generation
PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNTY
- Brown Station
- Chalk Point Power Plant
- Panda Brandywine
- University of Maryland
What can you do?
- Write to your legislator using our form below — oppose new gas plants in Maryland, and champion for renewable energy projects and legislation.
- Join CCAN for their Fossil Free Fridays until April 4.
Potential Talking Points
Gas is harmful to our climate and health. Based on the US EPA’s social cost of carbon estimate–the combined cost of climate change, public health, and other impacts –would be $425 million in social cost per year.
It will cost $3 billion to build 3.1 gigawatts of gas.
According to a study commissioned by Google, building out a gas plant is much more expensive than batteries.
This gas plant, which would provide dispatchable energy during peak demand, and wherever it is placed would become a disposable community because they are bearing the brunt of the total cost of the power plant.
The bill incentivizes new gas plants to go into communities that have historically held polluting industries.
This would fast track the approval processes and skirt community input.
