On Earth Day 2010, I salute Councilmember Roger Berliner for proposing one of America

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Earth Day, April 22, 2010
CONTACT: Mike Tidwell, 240-460-5838

Statement from Mike Tidwell, Executive Director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network:

“On Earth Day 2010, I salute Councilmember Roger Berliner for proposing one of America’s first county-based carbon taxes on major polluters. The County Council should pass this bill as soon as possible. This much-needed legislation will apply to only one company: The Mirant Corporation, owner of the massive, coal-fired power plant in Dickerson, Maryland. The Dickerson plant is by far the largest carbon polluter in the county, and Mirant is one of the largest carbon polluters in America. Unfortunately the company has a long history of contaminating our air and our watersheds in Maryland without voluntarily acting to protect the public from its pollution. In 2006 alone, Mirant’s Chalk Point plant in Prince George’s County, Maryland, recorded 1400 violations of the Federal Clean Air Act for burning dirty “bunker oil” without a permit. Mirant fought tenaciously against Maryland’s landmark Healthy Air Act passed by the General Assembly in 2007. And just last month, the Maryland Department of the Environment filed a lawsuit alleging Mirant violated federal Clean Water Act regulations at its coal waste landfill in Prince George’s County. And in 2006, CCAN raised serious concerns about the Dickerson plant’s continual violation of the state’s nitrous oxide standard during summer months.

“The Montgomery County carbon tax is a wise and much-needed response to Mirant’s long-established pattern of serious pollution. The bill would not discernibly affect ratepayers. It would, however, generate much-needed funding for county-sponsored greenhouse gas reduction efforts. Until Congress finally acts to generate a nation cap on carbon pollution, every county in Maryland and every county in the country should follow Roger Berliner’s lead today.”