Dive Brief:
- Maryland lawmakers last week rejected two clean energy proposals that would have expanded the state's Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard and phased out fossil fuels.
- One proposal, The Clean Renewable Energy and Equity Act, would compel the state to source 100% of its energy from renewable resources by 2035. The other proposal, dubbed the The Clean Energy and Jobs Act, would have increased the existing 25% RPS goal to 50% by 2030.
- Lawmakers expressed worry over ratepayer costs and required more information on the potential environmental impact of the current RPS, the Baltimore Sun reports.
Dive Insight:
Maryland's quest to increase renewable energy on its grid appears stymied by lawmakers. According to the Baltimore Sun, delegates to the General Assembly worried ratepayer bills would rise should the state shift more toward renewable energy.
Both bills were backed by environmental groups. And even those groups were split on their support. A representative for the Chesapeake Climate Action Network told Utility Dive that the more ambitious bill of the two, the Clean Energy and Equity Act, was not as politically achievable as the other measure. She noted that states tended to overshoot their RPS targets, making it likely that Maryland would head toward 100% renewable energy even without passing a measure to do so.
However, some felt that the 50% RPS bill failed to go far enough. Representatives of the Chesapeake Physicians for Social Responsibility, Dr. Gina Angiola and Tim Whitehouse, supported the 100% standard in an op-ed for the Baltimore Sun, saying that the current RPS standard subsidized polluting sources of generation such as burning garbage and wood waste.
It's unclear whether either bill would have made it past the state's governor, Larry Hogan (R). He vetoed a bill a couple years ago that expanded the RPS from 20% to the current 25% target. But both chambers of the Legislature voted to override the veto.
