Category: Blog

Black liquor measure fails in Md. House panel

By Steven Mufson

A measure before the Maryland legislature to roll back payments to paper companies burning a pulping residue known as “black liquor” failed by one vote in a state House committee Friday.

The bill, which passed the Maryland Senate by a bipartisan 33 to 13 vote, fell short of the 12 votes needed in the Economic Matters Committee — even after the bill’s sponsors agreed to guarantee continuing subsidies for Luke Mill, the one Maryland paper mill that was receiving the black-liquor payments.

black liquor Maryland

'Black liquor' phase-out clears Senate

The Baltimore Sun

By Tim Wheeler

Amended bill continues renewable energy subsidy for Luke Md mill

A phase-out of renewable energy subsidies for paper mills has cleared the Maryland Senate, though with a provision that guarantees the state’s only paper plant in Allegany County would continue to receive payments underwritten by taxpayers.

Environmentalists hailed the 33-13 vote Thursday for SB684, which they said would close what they considered a major loophole in Maryland’s renewable energy law. Currently, mostly out-of-state paper mills receive millions of dollars annually for powering their operations by burning “black liquor,” a tarry byproduct of the pulping process, and other wood waste.

Student activists protest pipeline

The Breeze

By IJ Chan

JMU students and Harrisonburg residents are joining the national fight against the Keystone XL pipeline.
The 2,147 mile long Keystone XL pipeline currently brings crude oil from Canada to the U.S. Midwest. A 1,700-mile long extension would carry the oil through to Texas. Many people nationwide are concerned that the installation of the pipeline would bring devastation to the environment by severely polluting the air, water and soil with excessive carbon emissions.

Keystone XL pipeline students Virginia

Enviros decry Virginia tax on hybrid cars

The Hill

By Keith Laing

Environmentalists are unhappy with Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R)’s decision to retain a tax on hybrid vehicles in a transportation funding plan for the state.

McDonnell reduced the amount of the tax from $100 per year to $64, his office announced on Tuesday.

But the Chesapeake Climate Action Network (CCAN) said he should have removed the entire tax.

“While Gov. McDonnell bent to public outcry and reduced the hybrid car tax, he should have vetoed it altogether, as thousands of Virginians urged,” CCAN Virginia State Director Beth Kemler said in a statement. “The hybrid tax remains an unfair and unreasonable policy. A $64 fee is just as arbitrary as the whole policy is to begin with.”

hybrid Virginia

Senator Warner: Stand with Virginians, Not Big Oil!

When Virginia Senator Mark Warner decided to flip his stance on the tar sands pipeline, Virginians were ready to march to his door and let him know that if he claims to be a leader on climate change, he cannot support the Keystone pipeline!

Yesterday, over 20 climate activists, including students and constituents from across the state, stormed Warner’s Richmond office to voice their outrage over his recent support for the KXL.

Keystone XL pipeline

Climate activists urge Warner to reject pipeline

Richmond Times-Dispatch

By Markus Schmidt

About a dozen climate-minded activists rallied outside Sen. Mark R. Warner’s Richmond office on Main Street on Monday, urging the Democrat to vote against the proposed Keystone XL tar sands pipeline.

Warner recently told President Barack Obama that he supports the pipeline but hopes the project’s construction can be tethered to more effective energy efficiency policies.

Keystone XL pipeline

1,136 Voices Against the Hybrid Tax

Each new General Assembly session is bound to bring its fair share of surprises. Chief among this year’s list was the truly shocking (and downright absurd) proposed $100 annual tax on hybrid and electric vehicles. I literally laughed out loud when I first heard of this proposal last November. The tax was heavily debated but ultimately became buried within an enormous transformation reform bill that narrowly passed both the House and Senate. The bill now sits on Gov. McDonnell’s desk. I, along with 1,136 of you, urge the governor to veto this poorly contrived component of the bill.

Virginia

Marylanders tell General Assembly to “Get to Work” on fracking protections

The following blog post was originally posted under the title, “dear legislators…” on the ClimateHoward Blog: http://climatehoward.wordpress.com/. It was written by Elisabeth Hoffman.

So, we are taking stock. On the downside: The fracking moratorium legislation for Maryland fell one vote short of getting out of its Senate committee during this General Assembly session.

On the plus side: The Senate committee at least voted. And the vote was sooo close.

And, we are not going away. Or giving up.

That was the message from more than 150 concerned Marylanders at yesterday’s rally in front of the State House in Annapolis. In the pointed words of Mike Tidwell, Chesapeake Climate Action Network’s director, we told legislators: You had better “get to work” to protect communities, the environment and the climate from fracking.

The rally, organized by CCAN, included parents and grandparents, college and high school students and teachers (including a group from Glenelg Country School in Howard County), a couple of babies in backpacks and strollers, nurses and other activists, and Western Maryland residents who live in areas that would be drilled or where natural gas compressor stations are planned.

One of the biggest lessons of the day, though, came from Lois Gibbs, who organized her Love Canal neighbors in the late 1970s when toxic waste buried under their homes and schools started making people sick.

fracking Maryland students

'Black liquor' deal goes sour

The Baltimore Sun

By Tim Wheeler

A deal environmentalists thought had been worked out to stop mostly out-of-state paper mills from cashing in on Maryland’s renewable energy law by burning so-called “black liquor” has come unglued. The state’s only paper plant in Allegany County has backtracked on a pledge not to oppose the move in return for being allowed to keep collecting from the state’s utility customers for another five years.

black liquor Maryland

Mill’s stance on ‘black liquor’ irks lawmakers

The Washington Post

By Steven Mufson

A month ago, the manager of Luke paper mill in western Maryland pledged in writing to remain neutral on a bill in the state legislature that would curtail renewable energy payments to mills burning a residue called “black liquor.”

This week, he changed his mind.

The flip-flop irked key Maryland lawmakers, but the Luke mill manager was just one of a parade of people from the American Forest and Paper Association, the United Steelworkers and Dominion Resources who opposed the bill in hearings in Annapolis on Tuesday and Thursday.

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