2018 Year In Review
A note from Chapter Director Josh Tulkin
I am thrilled to share with you the Maryland Sierra Club's 2018 year-in-review. Despite the daily grind of politics, I hope you will find inspiration and hope from these highlights from 2018. I did. Beyond the specific issues, I am most moved by the limitless dedication of our staff and volunteers. Thanks to all lf you.
In 2018 Sierra Club focused on six priority issues, each powered by a team of amazing volunteers, and support from our tireless staff team. We launched a new statewide transportation campaign to target carbon pollution from cars, shifted from fighting fracking to stopping pipelines, and expanded local and state work on plastic pollution and waste reduction. Additionally, 2018 brought a huge focus on the election, the start of political change. We endorsed and campaigned for over 100 climate champions from the County Council to General Assembly, and we had some huge victories, winning pro-environment majorities in several counties and electing new champions at the state level.
For the first time, this year-in-review also includes highlights from the eight "Sierra Club Groups" in Maryland. Groups (often comprising one or a few counties) are all volunteer led, and drive Sierra Club's grassroots organizing, advocacy, and outings at the local level. Learn what is happening in your area, I am sure you will be as inspired as I am.
And we continues Sierra Club's great tradition of getting people outdoors. In 2018 we organized over 100 outdoor activities across the state, and trained over a dozen new outings leaders that helped get more than 1000 Marylanders outdoors in 2018.
I am thankful to be part of such an amazing organization and surrounded by passionate staff and volunteers. I’m inspired by the tireless effort and endless spirit of our team. I’m looking forward to working toward our shared vision in 2019. If this work inspires you, please consider an end-of-year contribution. We are people powered, but supporting this work does cost money. And please sign up to volunteer in 2019, we will need to be even stronger next year to take on the challenges ahead.
Moving Maryland Beyond Gas
That’s why the Chapter hired Western Maryland Beyond Gas organizer Deirdre Lally in January to help our hundreds of anti-gas volunteers counter the threats from fracked gas infrastructure. With her help, the Beyond Gas Committee organized busloads of activists to a protest outside the Governor’s Mansion in Annapolis, held a statewide video conference this fall to update members on next steps, and began compiling a map of Maryland’s fracking infrastructure – an important tool for effective activism.
And, yes -- activism can be effective. After two years of action (and a lawsuit) by the Sierra Club and partner organizations, Dominion Gas announced in October that it would no longer seek permission to build a compressor station among fragile wetlands in Charles County. Legislation requiring Maryland to thoroughly review pipeline applications is a priority for the 2019 legislative session.
Clean Energy for All
As we transition off fossil fuels, we are working hard to promote wind and solar energy in Maryland. Maryland is poised to be a national leader in developing offshore wind. In 2017, the state approved construction of two offshore wind projects. In 2018, we decisively defeated efforts to undermine offshore wind projects approved last year by the state. Wind and solar are the clean energy sources Maryland must nurture and expand to effectively battle climate change and grow our economy.
We have educated the public on preferred solar siting plans and state and county level decision makers on Sierra Club’s organizational policies on solar to help bridge concerns. In 2015, Sierra Club was one of the leading advocates for a community solar law (SB398/HB 1087) to expand access to solar energy in Maryland. That bill was passed with bipartisan support that year, which launched a three-year pilot program for community solar. 2018 was the year when community solar projects finally started being built. In late November, Sierra Club was represented at the launch of a landfill-based community solar project in Prince George’s County that will serve over 1,000 homes. In October we partnered with the Maryland Association of Counties and Solar United Neighbors on a full-day workshop to educate county planners and decision makers on the benefits of solar and how to thread the needle between solar development and land conservation.
Moving Maryland Beyond Coal
Our Beyond Coal campaign had some impressive movement this year and has been engaging on several important issues impacting Maryland. After years of work, in June 2018, we scored a major victory for clean air with the retirement of the C.P. Crane Power Plant, a 400 megawatt coal-fired power plant, located in Baltimore County. This means the air in the Baltimore region will be a little cleaner on hot summer days. Our team is working to take the lessons learned from the C.P. Crane deactivation and build out a more robust coal community transition plan for the state of Maryland that is focused on a specific coal-free Maryland timeline that establishes community and workforce protections, launching us into a more just and prosperous clean energy economy.
Further, our team has been working to defend Marylanders from the combined efforts of the Trump administration and Big Coal at the EPA and in the energy markets. Did you know that over eighty-eight percent of Marylanders live in counties that are not meeting federal air quality standards for smog? We are partnering with local environmental groups to appeal the EPA’s decision to deny Maryland’s request that upwind coal plants operate their smokestack pollution controls that help reduce the formation of smog. That’s right, the EPA essentially said that coal plants upwind from Maryland don’t have to always operate their already installed pollution controls.
This fall we filed against the EPA for its failure to require states to submit and implement pollution reduction programs for dangerous sulfur dioxide pollution from coal plants -- because of the Herbert A. Wagner coal plant in Anne Arundel County, Maryland is one of a small number of states in the entire country to be in nonattainment of federal clean air standards for sulfur dioxide. And lastly, we are battling Big Coal in the opaque and complicated structure of our grid operator, PJM. We’re pushing back on attempts at bad energy market reforms and attempts to claim that grid reliability is negatively impacted by coal retirements.
We have a big year ahead of us and hope you’ll support our efforts to move Maryland beyond coal!
Clean Water for All
Our water team has been hard at work the past year to encourage local jurisdictions to enact smart development and green infrastructure projects to protect our waterways. The team organized and hosted a Water Forum attended by over 100 people, in which panel participants included representatives from our water utility – WSSC, Montgomery Parks – which manages stream valley parks, and the Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin. At present, the County Executive Elect, wants to act on ideas generated in that forum. This is expected to lead to stronger protection of water source areas in upper Montgomery County watersheds!
In Howard County, the Water Team and local SC group collaborated to respond to the 2nd Ellicott City Flood, and supported the now passed 1-year moratorium on development in Howard County in order to allow an update of stormwater runoff and flood management plans.
On the state level our water committee lobbied MDE to strengthen the next cycle of stormwater permits with provisions for green infrastructure. The decision by MDE on whether and how to include such provisions is pending. Draft permits were expected in early Fall but have not yet been released. They also participated in meetings of the Choose Clean Water Coalition to determine a way forward for strengthening the Forest Conservation Act, which was not accomplished in the 2018 session of the General Assembly.
Clean Transportation for All
Our transportation team has traveled to great heights this year! In April, we successfully advocated for a bill that passed in the General Assembly to increase transit funding statewide, dedicate $167 million of annual funding to the Washington area metro, and will pave the way for a new regional transit plan in the Central Maryland region.
Over the course of the year, we've built an amazing leadership team of over a dozen active members including regional group representatives.
We launched campaigns to adopt and implement a cross-state climate-friendly transportation policy, stop the expansion of I-270 and Beltway, and support long term mass transit planning. Our work earned us news coverage in papers like the Washington Post, Enterprise, and Frederick News Post to uplift our campaigns.
Top it off, we received a great end of the year present-- Maryland’s commitment to work with 9 other states and D.C. to develop a policy that would limit carbon pollution from the vehicles we drive and reinvest mass transit, electric buses and cars, and walking and biking infrastructure.
Getting Outdoors and Exploring Natural Places
The Sierra Club's mission is to Enjoy, Explore, & Protect and our Chapter and Groups take that mission to heart. We organized Outdoor Activities including hiking, biking, camping, and skiing with over 100 invasive plant removal and land stewardship workdays!
At our August Outings Leader Training, over 12 folks from Frostburg area and the urban DC and Baltimore joined a fun interactive experience to learn how to lead a Sierra Club hike, hone skills and share the outdoors with friends, neighbors, kids, and families. These 12 new leaders completed their provisional outings hiking in Gunpowder falls and fence building on a sustainable cattle grazing farm. Our local groups led some amazing outings as well. In Southern MD we launched an amazing program with weekly wanders to local parks (and scouted a great location to later plant trees to green a playground) and Catoctin leaders took folks on a hike from Dahlgren Chapel to the Washington Monument along the Appalachian Trail.
Our Stewardship Outings Program, which works on invasive plant removal, focuses on 3 local parks and several others around the state, which Marc Imlay uses as demonstration projects. 27 interns from Communications to Clean Water, Transportation, Energy, Political, and Administrative joined Stewardship and Conservation Outings interns to get outdoors!
So what difference is all this work making? To find out, we collated data to show the progress achieved since 2005 in 3 parks near the office where interns and volunteers regularly work. We are in the maintenance stage (at the 90-95% control level) for a number of invasives such as Bush Honeysuckle, Oriental Bittersweet, and English Ivy. We collated data to show the progress that has been achieved since 2005 in 3 parks near the office where interns and volunteers regularly work.
Through online organizing and letter writing, we brought attention to the Land and Water Conservation Fund (or LWCF) an enormously popular program established in 1964 to fund conservation and outdoor recreation initiatives. In MD it has saved important natural places like Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens.
The Maryland Sierra Club keeps a listing of parks with reduced tick exposure. In 2018, we were pleased to add Audubon Naturalist Society at Woodend Sanctuary to the list of 8 parks where deer and deer ticks are reduced to 20 deer/square miles so hikers have reduced risk of exposure to Lyme disease.
Join us outdoors in 2019 to be rejuvenated connecting with nature, on a stewardship work day to learn about plants and protect native species, in a community working for a just, equitable, healthy planet where everyone has access to the outdoors. www.sierraclub.org/maryland/calendar
Electing Environmental Champions in 2018
The Maryland Sierra Club mobilized in unprecedented ways to defend pro-environment incumbents and elect new leaders. For the election, Sierra Club strategically targeted staff time, canvasses, phone banks, and digital ads to support Ben Jealous for Governor and priority state senate races where there was a clear difference between the pro-environment candidate and their opponent including but not limited to: Ron Young (D3), Kathy Klausmeier (D8), Katie Hester (D9), and Sarah Elfreth (D30).
We are very encouraged by the strong turnout and the performance in many local and state legislative races. We are disappointed with the loss of Ben Jealous and Susie Turnbull, who offered a bold and inspiring vision to move Maryland to 100% clean renewable energy. In the closing weeks of the election, the Sierra Club partnered with its local groups to target additional support to endorsed candidates for County Executive in Montgomery County, Frederick County, Anne Arundel County, Baltimore County, and Howard County to elect new environmental leaders in some of Maryland’s largest and fastest growing jurisdictions.
SIERRA CLUB PRIORITY RACES AND OUTCOMES
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Sarah Elfreth elected Senator, District 30 by 4,064 votes (2,600+ members & supporters)
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Ron Young elected Senator, District 3 by 7,319 votes (1,997 members & supporters)
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Katie Fry Hester elected Senator, District 9 - ahead by 154 votes with absentee ballots still to be counted (1,783 members & supporters)
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Ken Kerr elected Delegate, District 3B by 552 votes defeated incumbent Bill Folden (1,000 members & supporters)
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Michelle Guyton elected Delegate, District 42B by 306 votes (1,600+ members & supporters)
COUNTY RACES
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Johnny Olszewski elected Baltimore County Executive by 45,344 votes (11,000+ members and supporters).
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Steuart Pittman elected Anne Arundel County Executive by 7,763 votes, plus winning a 4-3 pro-environment majority on Anne Arundel County Council (10,000+ members & supporters)
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Calvin Ball elected Howard County Executive by 6,336 votes (5,000+ members & supporters)
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Jan Gardner elected Frederick County Executive by 7,184 votes and Kai Hagan for At Large Council by 471 votes (3,800+ members & supporters)
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Marc Elrich elected Montgomery County Executive by 158,498 votes (18,000+ members & supporters).
Highlights from our Local Groups
Anne Arundel County
The Anne Arundel Group focused this year on the following efforts: (1) encouraging greater involvement of Group members though such events as the Annual Potluck Dinner and the holding public meetings on topics of interest, particularly climate change (2) working on passage of legislation regarding the siting of solar energy facilities and establishing a ban on single use foam food containers in both the County and the City of Annapolis. Unfortunately, the outgoing County Executive vetoed County bill to ban foam, but it will be re-introduced when the new County Council takes office.
The Group’s greatest success was regarding the 2018 election. The Group devoted considerable effort in endorsing candidates and working for their election. The Group’s endorsed candidates for County Executive, State’s Attorney, and a majority of the County Council won. In the General Assembly races, 6 out of 10 endorsed candidates won, including a woman who was the first Democrat to win in District 33 in 20 years. The Group looks forward to working closely with these winners on environmental issues.
Greater Baltimore Group (Baltimore County, Baltimore City, & Harford County)
One of the group's priorities has been to address the air and water pollution from the BRESCO trash incinerator. Efforts included testifying at an MDE hearing on reducing the BRESCO incinerator NOX emissions, at a hearing in Annapolis supporting Employee Ownership legislation, and more!
In the political realm, the group worked tirelessly to support endorsed candidates like Johnny Olszewski for Baltimore County Executive, and to defend some of our great environmental champions like Delegate Steve Lafferty. Our Greater Baltimore Group has also sponsored about 20 adult outings and BICO (Baltimore Inspiring Connections Outdoors) outings over the course of the year!
Catoctin Group (Frederick, Carroll, & Washington County)
In 2018, our Catoctin Group continued to host and offer social lunches following their monthly meetings in order to open the group up to new and interested volunteers. The group also made themselves a visible organization in the community by tabling at local events like Middletown Earth Day, Boonsboro Green Festival, and Frederick City’s “In the Streets”. The Catoctin team also sponsored a number of film screenings for “An Inconvenient Sequel” and “Reinventing Power”.
In the 2018 election, the group worked tirelessly to interview, endorse, and support candidates for Frederick County Executive & Council as well as State Delegates and Senators. Under group political coordinator Kathleen Rall, the group organized a postcard party, canvasses, and a party for all Primary candidate endorsees at Willow Oaks Barn.
Howard County Group
In 2018, Howard has been active in outreach at the Earth Forum, Howard Community College and other events. We have shown two movies, Bag It! & Reinventing Energy. They hosted a speaker, Bill Mahoney from the Office of Sustainability who spoke on the Green Infrastructure Network (GIN) in Howard County. In the Spring the group put on an open house where they invited partners to join us in outreach to the community. Recently, they teamed up with the Transportation Campaign and put on a Rise 4 Climate event at the Clarksville Commons along with the HoCo Climate Action Group. The HoCo Group also had a tour of the newly expanded Compost Facility at Alpha Ridge Landfill.
We made political endorsements at the county and state level, handed out thousands of Green Ballots and built relationships for the upcoming legislative year. Over the year, they have testified on multiple county bills including: against CB21-2018 the Mulching bill, against the Savage Mill Land Swap, for CB60-2018 to ban coal tar, for CB76-2018 for requiring new buildings to install charging stations for electric cars, and a state bill HoCo 04-19 to authorize Howard County to impose a fee on disposable bags. The group has also supported the campaign to save Rockburn Park from the development of a new high school and held a native plant sale fundraiser
Montgomery County Group
The number one route to good environmental policies and programs is get the most environmentally progressive officials in place. In MoCo, SC devoted enormous resources to endorsing and supporting the strongest candidates we could find for County Executive and County Council. Many of our endorsed candidates won in both the primary and general election.
Prince George’s County Group
When it comes to Zero Waste, Prince George’s rules! The Group educated nearly 500 businesses on how to comply with the 2015 foam food container ban, raising compliance to over 90%, and boosted recycling at special events in Bowie and Laurel. We have become a major partner with the Department of the Environment, speaking at the launch of the County’s Zero Waste Strategies and presenting ZW results at the Green Summit. Members also successfully campaigned to pass a Fair Elections bill, which will bring public financing to county elections in 2026. Finally, the Group sponsored ZW tours and a year-round outings program.
Southern Maryland Group (Charles, St. Mary’s, & Calvert County)
The ingenious Southern Maryland Group has devised a tree-planting project with almost limitless growth potential. Launched with a $1000 Special Projects Grant from the Chapter, with 
Over Columbus Day weekend, more than 60 volunteers planted thirteen 12-foot oaks and tulip poplars in 4 different county parks. Bonus benefits included building a solid relationship with county government via the Parks Department, raising awareness of the heat of synthetic play surfaces, and creating allies in the community and among park-going families. The modest, modular scope of the project keeps the cost per park reasonable, and allows the project to be extended to other parks as funding permits. With the momentum they’ve built, the Group is already fielding requests to take the program to other parts of the region.
Western Maryland (Allegany & Garrett County)
In 2018, Western Maryland received funding for a half-time organizer, Deirdre Lally. With the goal of an excom developed in 2019, a number of things developed. Deirdre engaged in one-on-ones with regional volunteer leaders and activists for the first five months of the year. She also hosted a happy hour gathering in Friendsville in February. The priorities she heard from conservation-minded folks in the region were clean renewable energy and local food systems.
To answer that call, Deirdre worked with leader Sam White to host a sustainable farm tour and cookout at Leaning Pine Farm in Mt. Savage in June which brought over 20 locals together to meet and discuss. She learned from there that people wanted outings! So Deirdre worked with Laurel Imlay and an Outings Leader Trainer to host an OLT 101 and campout weekend in August in Mt. Savage where about 12 new leaders were trained. At the end of this year, Western Maryland now has a group of trained Outings Leaders as well as volunteer interest in forming an excom looking ahead