Act Now: Governor Hogan Blocks Clean Air Protections

 

As one of his first acts in office, Governor Hogan is threatening to condemn Maryland families to more dirty air, by holding up protections against coal-fired power plant pollution.

 

The Maryland Sierra Club and prominent public health advocates have been working with the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) for well over a year on safeguards that would protect Marylanders from harmful smog pollution, which is responsible for a host of adverse health effects, including triggering asthma attacks, especially in vulnerable populations such as children. Smog is formed when nitrogen oxides emitted from burning coal and other sources react with other pollutants to form ground-level ozone. While some of the state’s coal units have modern technology to reduce these harmful emissions, most fail to use it consistently. Other units don’t have modern pollution-cutting technology at all. This puts our air and our health at risk.

 

The health protective safeguards Governor Hogan blocked would operate in two phases. Phase one would immediately require coal-burning power plants with existing pollution reduction technology to run it full-bore at all times. Phase two would require all plants to either install state-of-the-art pollution-cutting technology, stop burning coal, or retire altogether by 2020. The Maryland Department of the Environment had signed off on the final version of the safeguards, and they were on their way to be printed in the Maryland Register on the day of Hogan's inauguration. Once printed, they would have started improving our air quality after a 10-day grace period on February 2nd. The health protections would have been untouchable at 4pm on Wednesday, January 21st, but Hogan made the order to stop them from being printed along with several other regulations only a few hours after his swearing in ceremony.

 

 

Yet, the safeguards have already drawn strong support from leading health officials, faith leaders, over 70 elected officials, and a non-partisan citizen advisory council to the MDE. Even power plant owner Raven Power supported the safeguards that would be implemented at their own coal units. Thousands of Maryland residents including Sierra Club members and our partners have expressed support for the proposed health protections by submitting comments, testifying at numerous hearings, and rallying publicly on multiple occasions.

 

So why did Governor Hogan, who pledged to improve government efficiency and "build better communities", so brashly strike down this life-saving policy despite comprehensive support?

 

It appears that major corporate polluter NRG Energy--the only one opposed to the safeguards--is successfully lobbying the Governor for dirty air and weak health protections. Meanwhile, 85% of Maryland residents still live in areas that are failing to achieve EPA’s health-based air quality standards for smog. NRG has not been consistently operating its existing pollution controls at full tilt, and they oppose these protections because it will require them to install modern controls and run them if they continue to burn dirty fuel at two of their coal plants in Maryland (Chalk Point in Upper Marlboro and Dickerson in Montgomery County).