Air pollution in the form of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide from power plants directly causes human health afflictions like asthma and is a major contributor to the environmental decline of our treasured Chesapeake Bay. Fine particulate matter, much of it from sulfur dioxide emitted by power plants, results in more than 1,000 premature deaths in Maryland each year. Nitrogen oxide emissions, a major source of smog, trigger asthma attacks. Statewide, smog causes approximately 180,000 asthma attacks each year, and in the summer months an average of 4,000 people are sent to the emergency room due to asthma.
Smog negatively affects the Chesapeake Bay and our rivers. Nutrient pollution is a major cause of the decline of our Bay’s health. As excess nutrients enter rivers and tributaries, they promote the growth of algae blooms in the water. These blooms block needed sunlight from underwater vegetation. Further, when the algae die and sink to the bottom, decomposition takes away oxygen from the bottom dwelling communities, like shellfish and finfish. Currently, 42% of the total nitrogen deposition falling on the Chesapeake Bay and its watershed emanates from power plants.
Power plants are the single most polluting industry in the state of Maryland. Coal-fired plants, the worst offenders, are grandfathered from the federal Clean Air Act regulation. Coal fired power plants are major emitters of nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, mercury, and fine particulate matter that affects human health. Considering the sweet deal power companies received from utility deregulation legislation passed last year, these trends will only worsen.
There are strong economic reasons for supporting renewable energy in Maryland. We currently import more than 90% of the fuels used by our power plants to produce our electricity. By using renewable energy, we would begin to invest more in our own state rather than depending upon others to deliver our fuel. In addition, the health care costs associated with asthma attacks alone are over $7 billion nationwide. For all of these reasons, we strongly support the following legislation, and urge you to call, write and visit your legislators to get their support.
Maryland Energy Efficient Technology Tax Act (HB20). This legislation would give tax incentives to promote clean energy. These would include an incentive for the purchase of highly energy efficient models of appliances such as dishwashers, clothes washers, and dryers. It would provide a tax break for the purchase of a car or truck using renewable fuel, and for homeowners wanting to install highly efficient air conditioners, highly efficient heating units, and even solar panels. Tax incentives would be distributed for the sale of electric power from wind energy and biomass combustion. By using tax incentives, this bill will reward Maryland residents for choosing energy efficient products and techniques.
Renewable Portfolio Standards. Currently, only 0.6% of our electricity comes from environmentally preferable renewable energy, yet we have the technology to produce much more. A bill being introduced by Senator Arthur Dorman (Prince George’s County) will establish a market-based mechanism that will require that a percentage of the total energy output from a power company come from renewable sources --specifically, wind, solar, biomass, and methane gas emanating from landfills. The percentage starts at 1% by 2002 and increases one-half percent yearly until reaching 6% in 2012. As far as any increase in costs, projections state that at the full 6%, consumer rates would only increase 0.8%. Yet this nominal cost would be more than counterbalanced by the monetary savings and environmental benefits from fewer imports, the potential for using crops for biomass combustion, and the reduction in medical expenditures from fewer asthma attacks.
Energy Efficient School Construction (HB217). HB 217 is an excellent energy efficieny proposal we strongly support. The bill requires the Board of Public Works to adopt regulations that incorporate energy efficient approaches to school construction. Under the proposal, school construction would have to maximize the use of wind and solar energy resources, energy efficient lighting, insulation, and other materials, include the harvesting of rainwater, and provide easy access for pedestrians, bicycles, and mass transit.
We need to show our overwhelming support for the use of renewable energy and curb our use of coal-fired power plants. We know the power companies will not do this on their own. Indeed, when electricity sales among power companies were deregulated in 1992, the ten worst polluting plants here in Maryland increased production by 24%, the equivalent of adding 1 million cars to our roads! Profit is their only motive.
Help us by calling your State legislator and telling them to support these bills that say “no” to dirty power and “yes” to renewable, clean energy for our health and for the Bay.
For further details, call Joan Willey, Sierra Club, at 410-267-0716, or Sean McGuire, Sierra Club, at 410-260-8727. q