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Monday night, the Maryland Senate passed a comprehensive climate change bill. It would put Maryland on track to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by zero by 2045. Large buildings will be required to reduce their energy consumption.
The Senate passed the Climate Solutions Now Act of 2022The vote was 32-15 to party-line with Republicans opposed. The bill is now headed to the House of Delegates, where lawmakers have introduced their own set of companion bills instead of a single sweeping measure.
The Climate Solutions Now Act would set the statewide greenhouse gas emission reduction goal to 60% below 2006 levels by 2030, expand the state’s electrical vehicle fleet, direct millions of dollars to school systems to build net-zero schools and establish a “green bank” that would invest state funds into private projects that reduce gas emissions, among many other provisions.
Monday’s vote came after a marathon Senate floor sessionLast week, Republicans tried to pass a variety of failed amendments.
Pinsky is present during deliberations in a committee. cut the bill’s most far-reaching provisionsThis would have required all new buildings to use electricity, instead of fossil fuels, to heat water and provide space for 2024.
Pinsky said the amended bill “doesn’t go far enough.”
“But it makes a very important step forward,” he added.
Republicans reaffirmed their claim that the bill would increase energy costs savings, especially for low- and medium-income residents who live within multifamily buildings, but not much on global climate change, before the bill was passed on Monday.
“This is going a bridge too far, but in a way it’s going to a bridge to nowhere because there’s no benefit…to the overall climate crisis,” said Minority Whip Justin Ready (R-Carroll). “It’s just going to raise energy prices.”
Sen. Mary Beth Carozza (R, Lower Shore) requested climate solutions that are not likely to threaten Marylanders’ jobs, energy reliability, and affordability.
Pinsky maintained that the state will benefit from moving away from fossil fuels in the long-run. He also pointed out that the Maryland Commission on Climate Change, which is made up five Cabinet secretaries of the Hogan administration and approved recommendations for an entirely electric construction code in a 24-2 majority vote.
“We can either be part of this movement or we can stand in the way of this movement — that’s our choice today,” Pinsky said.
The bill now requires the Public Service Commission to determine if there is enough capacity within the state’s grid to support an all-electric building code in the future. It would also require buildings of at least 25,000 square feet to reduce their emissions by 30% by 2035 and net-zero by 2040. The new standards exempt private and public schools, agricultural structures, and historic buildings.
Pinsky predicted that even if the Public Service Commission concludes after their study that the state’s electrical grid can handle an all-electric building code, utility companies will still oppose sweeping climate legislation.
“The gas industry poisoned the well with disinformation and put their profit margin over the interests of the state,” Pinsky told Maryland Matters.
A group of environmental advocates projected “electrify everything now” onto the State House on Monday evening to urge senators to pass the Climate Solutions Now Act. Jamie Demarco, Chesapeake Climate Action Network.
Before the Senate convened on Monday evening, a group of environmental advocates gathered on Lawyers’ Mall and projected the phrase “electrify everything now” with a picture of an electrical plug onto the State House to urge senators to pass the bill.
“What do we want?” Victoria Venable, the Maryland director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, asked through a megaphone as senators were walking from the Senate office buildings to the State House.
“Climate solutions!” the crowd yelled back.
“When do we want it?” Venable asked.
“Now!” the crowd cheered.
Josh Tulkin, director of Maryland Sierra Club, stated that he was disappointed that Senate passed the bill without an electric code for new buildings. He said that this was crucial for Maryland to meet its greenhouse gas emission reduction goals. “We will need to do it, and that delay is not helpful,” he said.
Tulkin, however, praised the bill for its strong climate goal. The bill begins to take steps to reduce the amount of gas in existing buildings, electrify state vehicles fleets, and place environmental justice at the heart of more state programs. Pinsky’s bill would establish a Climate Justice Corps that would employ young people to work on clean energy or climate mitigation projects in communities disproportionately affected by climate change.
As the bill moves to the House of Delegates, Tulkin said he hopes lawmakers will amend the bill so that the Public Service Commission does not rely on analyses made by the utility companies about the state’s grid capacity. Tulkin suggested that the Public Service Commission should use projections from third party consultants. “Utility companies should be providing information, answering questions, but not reaching conclusions.”
Emily Scarr, the Maryland director for Maryland Public Interest Research Group, said the bill “moves us in the right direction toward more efficient buildings powered by clean energy.” But she urged lawmakers to not invest any more in the state’s gas distribution network and argued it would be more expensive for Marylanders to rely on fossil fuel in the future.
“Decision-makers need to acknowledge that as Maryland moves away from fossil fuels, utilities will look to customers to cover the stranded costs of a gas infrastructure that will become increasingly useless,” she continued. “If regulators don’t recognize this moment, too many Marylanders will be trapped with the financial burden of ever increasing costs for outdated gas infrastructure.”
