ANNAPOLIS—The Maryland House of Delegates voted 102-34 on Friday afternoon to give final approval to a bill (HB 449) that would prohibit fracking for natural gas in the state through October 1, 2017. The bill now heads to the desk of Governor Larry Hogan.
Mike Tidwell, director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, had the following statement in response:
“Thousands of people from every corner of Maryland have called on their legislators to protect our state from dangerous fracking. Lawmakers have now followed the will of state voters by sending a fracking moratorium bill to the governor’s desk. The bill will guarantee that no gas company can drill into Maryland soil for at least two and a half years. It will give legislators important time to evaluate mounting evidence that fracking would pose unacceptable risks to our health, environment, and tourism economy.
“It’s now up to Governor Hogan to sign the moratorium bill into law, and it should be an easy choice. The General Assembly passed this bill with overwhelming, bipartisan support, and polling shows that a clear majority of Marylanders oppose fracking.
“Ultimately, the General Assembly’s landmark passage of fracking moratorium legislation is a testament to a strong and growing grassroots movement in Maryland. For five years, Marylanders have been fighting to protect our beautiful state from potentially irreversible harm at the hands of the gas industry. A fracking moratorium bill now sits on Governor Hogan’s desk. This much is certain: our movement will keep growing and not let up until Maryland communities are fully protected from the serious risks of fracking.”
Contact:
Shilpa Joshi, 503-998-8630, shilpa@chesapeakeclimate.org
Kelly Trout, 240-396-2022, kelly@chesapeakeclimate.org

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The Chesapeake Climate Action Network is the biggest and oldest grassroots organization dedicated to fighting climate change in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C. We’re building a powerful movement to shift our region away from climate-harming fossil fuels and to clean energy solutions.