U.S. House of Representatives Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (MD-5) addressed a crowd of nearly 300 tonight at a town hall forum on clean energy at the University of Maryland. The College Park auditorium was packed with members of local business, environmental, student, faith and sportsmen’s groups. Continue reading
Livestream: Climate Town Hall Meeting with Steny Hoyer
Md. Gov Signs Strongest State Carbon Cap in Country into Law
The Chesapeake Climate Action Network today applauded Governor O’Malley for signing into law legislation to combat global warming and create green jobs in Maryland. The Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction Act, SB 278/HB 315, mandates the strongest economy-wide reduction in global warming pollution of any climate bill in the country. Continue reading
Md. Passes Strongest Carbon Cap in Country
ANNAPOLIS -The Chesapeake Climate Action Network today praised the Maryland General Assembly for approving strong legislation to address global warming in Maryland. The Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction Act, SB 278 and HB 315, will protect Maryland’s environment and economy while also spurring strong action at the federal level to address global warming nationwide.
Md. Passes Strongest Carbon Cap in Country
The Chesapeake Climate Action Network today praised the Maryland General Assembly for approving strong legislation to address global warming in Maryland. The Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction Act, SB 278 and HB 315, will protect Maryland’s environment and economy while also spurring strong action at the federal level to address global warming nationwide. Continue reading
Clean Energy Center opens in Montgomery County
The Maryland Clean Energy Center announced the location of its new home today, right here in Montgomery County. This new center, a non-profit organization working jointly with the Maryland Energy Administration, Montgomery County, and the University sytem of MD, was created to promote clean energy development across the state, and create green jobs in MD.
County executive Isiah Leggett says of the center:
The center will provide a coordinated approach to building a strong clean energy economy in Maryland through technology commercialization, business incubation, and workforce development and training.
Even though it’s not quite up-and-running, this is a great step of hitting MD’s goal of creating at least 100,000 green jobs by 2015, and one more resource that we have in making a clean energy revolution a reality. Bonus: there are already job listings of green jobs that are hiring right now on their resources page. I encourage you to check it out, register your clean energy business (or non-profit activities) for their database, and help get this green jobs ball rolling.
Once again, MD does something awesome.
Van Hollen Releases Cap and Dividend Act of 2009
Maryland Congressman Chris Van Hollen (D-Dist. 8), one of the highest-ranking members of the U.S. House of Representatives, today unveiled landmark legislation to help solve the global warming crisis. Van Hollen’s “Cap and Dividend Act of 2009” employs a novel but increasingly popular approach that will help grow our economy and help working families prosper. It is simple, transparent and fair. Continue reading
Historic Shift: Wind Energy Cheaper than Coal in Md.
Maryland Pepco and BGE residential customers can now sign up for wind power at rates that are below Pepco’s and BGE’s rates, Clean Currents announced today. This means that people can support a cleaner environment while saving money on their electric bill. Continue reading
MD Senate Passes Global Warming Bill
While I was busy protesting coal in Washington DC, the MD state senate passed GGERA, a with a whopping vote of 36-9. Check out the vote count after the jump.
And last week, while I was at PowerShift 09, two committees in the House of Delegates held a hearing on the bill, which also went well.
What’s next? The House committees will hold a vote (hopefully sometime in the next few weeks), and then it’s on to the Senate floor. Overall, things are looking good, but of course, I will let you know the minute anything changes.
I also want to take a moment to send a giant THANK YOU shout-out to all of you, the grassroots activists who worked on this bill so tirelessly for the past few years. You are the ones responsible for making MD’s leadership on global warming a reality!
Continue reading
Frank Kratovil luvs Green Jobs
Here at CCAN, the MD team and the VA team had a friendly bet going on about competing Town Hall Meetings that we worked on organizing (with some help from coalition partners) – which team could get the most people to turn out to the event? Well, the jury is still out on that one (our headcount is higher, but it was pretty close), but more importantly, this was a great opportunity to chat with MD’s newest Congressman, the Honorable Frank Kratovil.
Above is a picture of Mr. Kratovil, speaking to a packed house about green jobs and clean energy, and how awesome they are, and what is in the simulus package to help create them ($87 billion of investments in clean energy and 1.7 million new green jobs created, if you were wondering).
It was pretty inspiring, all this green talk, and not just from the Congressman. Our other panelists were Dr. Kevin Sellner of the Chesapeake Research Consortium, who had all kinds of fun facts and figures about the terrible things global warming will do to the Chesapeake Bay, and Benjamin Goldstein from the Center for American Progress, who talked about green jobs and clean energy potential right here in MD. Oh and me, I also spoke, so you KNOW that it was awesome.
Didn’t make it, but want to take action? Then send a thank you note to your legislators who supported the green stimulus bill (and if they didn’t support it, we’ll send them a spank you note instead). And spread the word – tell your friends, because it’s time to build a clean energy army!