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.

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'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.

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

For Immediate Release
March 13, 2013

Contact:
Kelly Trout, 717-439-0346, kelly@chesapeakeclimate.org
Mike Tidwell, 240-460-5838, mtidwell@chesapeakeclimate.org

Energized by close Senate committee vote on fracking moratorium bill, more than 100 concerned citizens attend morning rally at the State House in Annapolis, vow to continue the fight

ANNAPOLIS—Concerned Marylanders from across the state converged at the State House in Annapolis on Wednesday and vowed to continue their fight for legislative action to address the risks of fracking. Activists said they have more determination than ever after falling just one vote short of passing a bill to place a statutory moratorium on the controversial drilling practice in a Senate committee last week.

Wearing bright red t-shirts and resounding chants across Lawyer’s Mall, around 150 activists—Western Maryland residents on the front lines of drilling, nurses, students, teachers and grandparents—rallied with one message for their legislators: “Get to work now protecting our communities and climate from the harms of fracking.”

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Landmark offshore wind power bill passes final hurdle in Maryland

For Immediate Release
March 8, 2013

Contact:
Mike Tidwell, 240-460-5838, mtidwell@chesapeakeclimate.org
Tom Carlson, 651-587-0730, tom@chesapeakeclimate.org

CCAN applauds historic Senate vote; bill is now destined for Governor O’Malley’s desk

ANNAPOLIS—The Maryland Senate today passed the Maryland Offshore Wind Energy Act of 2013 (HB 226) by a vote of 30 to 15, pushing this landmark clean energy law over its final major hurdle, and ensuring it will reach Governor O’Malley’s desk.

The bill will incentivize development of more than 200 megawatts of wind power ten miles off the coast of Ocean City, Maryland. Advocates say this is just the first step toward a goal of over 1,000 megawatts of ocean-based wind development in coastal Maryland. Regionally, the legislation is another concrete step toward a major new and clean power source for the East Coast. Construction of the Cape Wind offshore project in Massachusetts will begin later this year while New Jersey, like Maryland, is moving forward with incentive policies.

In Maryland, today’s Senate passage of the offshore wind bill follows House passage two weeks ago. The bill is the culmination of a broad, unprecedented grassroots campaign. Over the past two and a half years, hundreds of environmental, health, labor, business, faith and student groups, and thousands of ordinary Marylander voters, joined together to push lawmakers in Annapolis to take this step forward and make offshore wind power a reality in Maryland.

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Fracking moratorium comes one vote shy of passing in MD Senate committee

For Immediate Release
March 7, 2013

Contact:
Mike Tidwell, 240-460-5838, mtidwell@chesapeakeclimate.org
Kelly Trout, 240-396-2022, kelly@chesapeakeclimate.org

Advocates say near-miss on victory will only deepen movement to protect state residents from impacts of high-risk drilling

ANNAPOLIS—State legislation to place a statutory moratorium on the controversial gas drilling practice known as fracking came within one vote of passing yesterday in the Education, Health and Environmental Affairs committee of the Maryland Senate. The oil and gas industry had lobbied heavily against the bill (SB 601) in the face of widespread grassroots support and polling data showing Maryland voters overwhelmingly support legislative action on the issue of fracking.

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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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Victory: MD votes for offshore wind!

On September 23, 2010 at St. Paul’s by-the-Sea Episcopal Church in Ocean City, Maryland, CCAN and other advocates held our first town hall in the campaign to bring offshore wind power to the state.

Over two and a half years later, on March 8th, 2013, the Maryland Senate joined the House of Delegates in passing the Maryland Offshore Wind Energy Act of 2013 (HB 226), creating a process to support the development of Maryland’s first offshore wind farm.

Marylanders for offshore wind power: what follows is your story – a chronological timeline of key events in the campaign that brought us to today. It was all of your phone calls, your 10,000 petitions, hundreds of hand-written letters, letters-to-the-editor, and trips to Annapolis to rally together and to lobby your legislators that have made this happen. Maryland will be a leader in offshore wind because of you.

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Fracking Poll: Broad and growing majority of MD voters support pause for studies

For Immediate Release
February 25, 2013

Contact:
Kelly Trout, 240-396-2022, kelly@chesapeakeclimate.org
Mike Tidwell, 240-460-5838, mtidwell@chesapeakeclimate.org

Polling shows seventy-eight percent of Marylanders support approach of moratorium bill; voters want General Assembly to join Governor’s agencies in deciding fate of fracking in the state

ANNAPOLIS—Poll results released today, on the eve of a key Senate hearing on the issue of fracking, show that an overwhelming and growing majority of Maryland voters want legislators to require thorough study of the risks of fracking before any drilling is permitted in the state. Advocates and policymakers pointed to the polling as strong evidence that the fracking moratorium bill (SB 601) before the General Assembly is a common-sense approach that reflects the will of state voters.

More than three-fourths of registered voters surveyed, or 78 percent, want the General Assembly to require environmental and safety studies for fracking, a jump in support of seven points from similar polling conducted last spring. Support for mandating studies aligns across party, regional and racial lines — including 76 percent of Western Marylanders, 55 percent of Republicans and a very strong 95 percent of African Americans. The support is also notably intense. Fifty-eight percent of respondents felt strongly that health and safety studies must come before fracking. Three times as many respondents would vote for a legislator who supports studies as would vote against that legislator.

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Maryland Ocean Turbines Seen Powering U.S. Offshore Power

Bloomberg Businessweek
By Jim Snyder and Justin Doom
A stripped-down wind-energy proposal backed by Maryland’s governor and gaining support in its legislature may be the first step in creating a network of offshore turbines and sub-sea cables spanning the U.S. Atlantic coast.
The project would power the equivalent of 61,600 of Maryland’s 2.1 million households. However, clean-energy advocates say it could signal the emergence of an industry that has so far been unable to erect a single tower in U.S. waters, giving the project impact beyond its megawatts.
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Bill Introduced To Put A Moratorium On Fracking

CBS Baltimore

Reporting Alex DeMetrick

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (WJZ)—Even though it promises money and jobs, efforts are underway to keep fracking from Maryland. At least until the risks are evaluated.

Alex DeMetrick reports the controversial drilling technique has freed up huge reserves of natural gas as well as worry.

The wells travel the spine of a vast deposit of shale rich in natural gas. High pressure streams of water and chemicals fractures the shale and releases the gas.

It’s called fracking, and now legislation has been introduced that would put a moratorium on fracking in Maryland.

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