Three Steps to Electing Climate Champions

The Maryland Climate Justice Resolution is sponsored by and was developed with input from CCAN Action Fund, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 26, CASA, and the NAACP Maryland State Conference. The resolution offers a shared vision of 100% clean electricity by 2035 (without incentives for trash incineration), investments in underserved communities, and increased access to clean transportation and strong labor provisions for clean-energy projects.

The 2022 MD Climate Justice Resolution and its creation is historic because it is the first of its kind in our state and was developed with input from climate, justice, and labor organizations. By collaborating from the beginning, CCAN Action Fund, NAACP Maryland State Conference, CASA, and IBEW Local 26, worked to build a shared vision which recognizes the intersectional threat of climate change.  In addition to the four primary partners, over 70 justice groups, labor leaders, environmental organizations, and businesses have signed in support of the Resolution’s shared vision of climate justice.

According to data from the Energy Information Administration, in 2020 Maryland’s electricity came from the following sources: Nuclear (41.8%). Coal (9.3%), Natural Gas (38.9%). Oil (0.2%), Hydro (4.7%), Geothermal (0.0%), Solar (1.7%), Wind (1.5%), Biomass and other (1.8%)Source: EIA via Nuclear Energy Institute (https://www.nei.org/resources/statistics/state-electricity-generation-fuel-shares)

Currently, within the state’s RPS system for renewable energy, about 70% is made up of carbon-free electricity sources such as wind, solar, and hydroelectric power. Black liquor has recently been about 10% of the RPS, but it is being phased out through legislation enacted in 2021. Although some black liquor contracts are temporarily grandfathered in, by 2030 this projection assumes the 10% black liquor share will be replaced overwhelmingly by carbon-free power. Between black liquor being removed by law, and carbon-free clean energy growing as a share of the RPS,  we estimate the RPS will be 80% clean by 2030 under current law (Fig. 1).

Removing subsidies and incentives for incineration ensures that ratepayers are not paying to pollute their own communities. Trash incineration emits pollution that creates a public health crisis. Incineration facilities such as Baltimore City’s BRESCO plant emit high levels of health-hazardous air pollution, harm water, and soil quality, contribute to respiratory, cardiovascular, and other ailments, and add to climate disruption. A study commissioned by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation found that fine particle air pollution from the BRESCO incinerator in Baltimore causes over $55 million in adverse health effects annually. In fact, someone living near the BRESCO incinerator has the same risk of contracting asthma and other health problems as they would if they lived with a cigarette smoker. Incinerators are not something state taxpayers should be subsidizing and promoting as “clean energy.”

In 2018, the IPCC cited the devastating impacts of global warming above 1.5 degrees Celsius and the emissions reduction pathway needed to limit warming to no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius. Importantly, the IPCC noted that wealthy nations like the United States must reduce climate-disrupting pollution by 60% below 2006 levels by 2030 and reach net-zero emissions by mid-century in order to avoid the most catastrophic climate impacts. With the passage of the Climate Solutions Now Act of 2022, Maryland committed to reaching those emissions targets.

In order to reduce emissions by 60% by 2031 (the benchmark included in the Climate Solutions Now Act of 2022), we must reduce emissions in the top-emitting sectors, including transportation and electricity. This means greener, cleaner transportation options and the expansion of renewable energy.

Source: IPCC, 2018:  Global warming of 1.5°C. An  IPCC   Special   Report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels and related global greenhouse gas emission pathways,   in the context of strengthening the global response to the threat of climate change,  sustainable development, and efforts to eradicate poverty  [V.  Masson-Delmotte, P.  Zhai,  H.  O. Pörtner, D. Roberts,  J. Skea, P.R.  Shukla,  A.  Pirani,  W. Moufouma-Okia, C.  Péan, R.  Pidcock, S. Connors, J. B. R.  Matthews, Y.  Chen, X. Zhou,  M. I.  Gomis, E. Lonnoy, T. Maycock, M. Tignor,  T. Waterfield  (eds.)].  In Press.

Maryland has not defined “historically disadvantaged communities” in code. Taking lead from the President Biden Administration, historically disadvantaged communities can be identified by reviewing income, unemployment rate, racial and ethnic segregation, linguistic isolation, housing cost burden, access to transportation and healthcare, environmental stressor burden, energy cost burden and low energy access, etc. There are several tools that can be used to identify historically disadvantaged communities including the White House Council on Environmental Quality’s Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool. 

In the Climate Solutions Now Act of 2022, the State of Maryland defined two terms that relate to “historically disadvantaged communities.” They include “underserved communities” and “overburdened communities.”
“overburdened community” means any census tract for which three or more of the following environmental health indicators are above the 75th percentile statewide: (i) particulate matter (pm) 2.5; (ii) ozone; (iii) national air toxics assessment (nata) diesel pm; (iv) nata cancer risk; v) nata respiratory hazard index; (vi) traffic proximity; (vii) lead paint indicator; (viii) national priorities list superfund site proximity; (ix) risk management plan facility proximity; (x) hazardous waste proximity; (xi) wastewater discharge indicator; (xii) proximity to a concentrated animal feeding operation (cafo); (xiii) percent of the population lacking broadband coverage; (xiv) asthma emergency room discharges; (xv) myocardial infarction discharges; (xvi) low–birth–weight infants; (xvii) proximity to emitting power plants; (xviii) proximity to a toxic release inventory (tri) facility; (xix) proximity to a brownfields site; (xx) proximity to mining operations; and (xxi) proximity to a hazardous waste landfill.
“underserved community” means any census tract in which, according to the most recent u.s. census bureau survey: (i) at least 25% of the residents qualify as low–income; (ii) at least 50% of the residents identify as nonwhite; or (iii) at least 15% of the residents have limited English proficiency.

Transportation contributes 40% of the greenhouse gas emissions in Maryland, according to the 2017 Inventory conducted by the Maryland Department of the Environment.