For Immediate Release
May 16, 2014
Contact:
Tommy Landers, 301-442-0134, tommy@chesapeakeclimate.org
Kelly Trout, 240-396-2022, kelly@chesapeakeclimate.org

Gov. O’Malley’s Veto of ‘Anti-Wind Bill’ Will Clear Path for Billion Dollar Wind Industry on Maryland’s Eastern Shore

Governor earns praise from national and state environmental leaders for today’s announced veto of HB 1168

ANNAPOLIS—Today, Governor Martin O’Malley officially vetoed HB 1168, a Maryland bill that would have stymied the development of clean energy in the state. With his veto, the governor will effectively unlock the construction of a $200 million wind farm on Maryland’s lower Eastern Shore. He will also clear the path for development of a wind power industry on the Eastern Shore worth an estimated $1 billion.
The bill Governor O’Malley vetoed would have unnecessarily established a 13-month moratorium on land-based wind power in all or part of 12 counties across much of Maryland, chilling clean energy investment and impeding the state’s ability to reach a goal of obtaining 20 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2022.
Today’s veto was hailed by national and state environmental leaders as a significant act of leadership on climate change:
Bill McKibben, co-founder of 350.org: “Governor O’Malley is standing up for climate solutions with his veto of this ‘anti-wind power’ bill. Governor O’Malley has shown the nation that wind power can co-exist with military bases and that, indeed, climate change is our number one ‘national security’ threat.”
Michael Brune, executive director, Sierra Club: “The Sierra Club applauds Governor O’Malley’s defense of clean energy solutions. His action today will accelerate the development of East Coast wind farms that will bring new jobs to Maryland while helping to slow sea-level rise in the Chesapeake Bay.”
Mike Tidwell, director, Chesapeake Climate Action Network: “Today will be remembered as a pivotal turning point in Maryland’s march toward a clean energy economy. The governor’s veto of this unnecessary anti-wind power bill will open the door to a billion dollar wind industry on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. This will create a clean-energy foundation that Maryland families, farmers, workers and businesses so urgently need in the face of intensifying climate change.”
Background:
The Maryland General Assembly — despite passing many strong bills on climate change in recent years — voted earlier this spring to effectively stop development of an entire modern wind farm on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. The same bad bill — HB 1168 — would have effectively delayed and perhaps stopped land-based wind power development in all or part of 12 Maryland counties in the eastern and southern parts of the state. Why? Because of military radar concerns that experts have believed all along can be totally resolved without harmful new state legislation.
Governor Martin O’Malley vigorously opposed this “anti-wind power” bill during the legislative session of 2014. The governor, a nationally recognized supporter of clean energy, explicitly urged the General Assembly not to stymie wind power development this way. But with ferocious lobbying from special-interest defense contractors and their political supporters, the bill passed. Now the governor is pulling out his veto pen.
The governor’s forthcoming veto sends the message that Maryland really is serious about clean energy development that helps rural farmers and creates good-paying union jobs while remaining utterly compatible with national security needs. Indeed, stopping climate change is America’s TOP national security need.
The ranking officer at the Patuxent River Naval Air Station was already in agreement with a wind farm developer on the Eastern Shore over how radar needs and wind power can co-exist. The key — confirmed by an MIT study — is simply to turn the windmills off when the Navy is using a key radar system. The wind company — Pioneer Green — has agreed to do this. But exaggerated concerns by private defense contractors led to passage of HB 1168 nonetheless.
Now Governor O’Malley — whose eight-year stint as governor ends this year — can leave office having achieved one of his most important actions yet on climate change: vetoing a truly harmful bill so Marylanders can benefit from good, clean energy.
The Maryland Energy Administration (MEA) has conservatively estimated the value of the land-based wind industry on the state’s Eastern Shore at $1 billion. That’s in large part because, along with mountainous western Maryland, the shore is one of the best areas in the state for wind power development. In February testimony against HB 1168, MEA told Maryland lawmakers: “Based on MEA analysis of available resource, we feel a conservative estimate of the potential total value of projects on the Eastern Shore is well over $1 billion, with hundreds of millions of dollars of local economic impact.”
Concerns from military contractors led to the bill, but experts have explained that those concerns are misplaced. Retired Air Force Col. David Belote submitted testimony to a state committee in April saying as much. Mr. Belote wrote of the ADAMS radar testing capability at the Patuxent River or “Pax River” Naval Air Station in southern Maryland: “I’m confident that the Pax River mission is safe, and I’m equally confident that no base commander or Pentagon official would sign an agreement that would endanger a unique, critical capability like ADAMS.”

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