FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Josh Tulkin, josh.tulkin@mdsierra.org, 650-722-3171
Lindsey Mendelson, lindsey.mendelson@mdsierra.org, 240-706-7901
Maryland lawmakers consider bill to evaluate environmental impacts of major transportation projects
General Assembly considers bill to require a thorough analysis of greenhouse gas emissions, air pollution, and stormwater impacts of public-private partnerships
Annapolis, MD - Today, the Maryland General Assembly’s Environment & Transportation Committee will hold a hearing on the Transportation Climate Accountability Act; a hearing will be held in the Senate’s Education, Health & Environmental Affairs Committee on Wednesday. The bill, sponsored by Senator Jim Rosapepe and Delegate Vaughn Stewart, would thoroughly measure the greenhouse gas emissions, air and stormwater pollution, and impacts to frontline communities currently experiencing environmental injuries from public-private partnership (P3) transportation projects.
The bill comes as Governor Hogan actively promotes an up to $11 billion plan to widen the Capital Beltway, along with I-270, which would result in hundreds of miles of new toll lanes. The project would be one of the largest P3 transportation projects in North America.
In 2017, the Trump administration withdrew guidance for federal agencies to review the impacts of climate change in National Environmental Policy Act assessments.
“This bill is a common sense response to the Trump Administration's embrace of climate change denial and rollback of environmental protections,” said Senator Jim Rosapepe, District 21.
The bill would also require the study to recommend alternatives to the project should the proposed approach violate current environmental standards. “We need to direct more of our transportation dollars to increasing public transit, investing in electric transit and school buses, promoting car and van-pooling, and designing walkable, bikeable communities. Our goal should be getting more people to where they want to be in a reliable, cleaner manner, not enabling more vehicles to travel faster,” said Delegate Vaughn Stewart, District 19.
The transportation sector is now the number one source of carbon pollution in the state and a major contributor to air pollution associated with increased risk of cancers, diabetes, heart disease, asthma, and other respiratory diseases.
“The vast majority of Marylanders live in counties with unhealthy air. The research is clear: expanding highways encourages more people to drive, which leads to more congestion and pollution by increasing the number of cars on the road. The state must thoroughly evaluate how major transportation projects affect short and long term climate pollution that affect our communities and our health,” said Josh Tulkin, Director of the Maryland Sierra Club.
“Highway expansion has repeatedly been shown to increase greenhouse gas emissions by boosting the number of miles vehicles traveled. The Transportation Climate Accountability Act will help ensure that Maryland achieves its goal of reducing its emissions 40% from 2006 levels by 2030 by requiring that climate impacts be fully analyzed in the planning phase and, where potential adverse impacts are foreseen, recommending alterations or alternatives,” said Don Goldberg, Executive Director of Climate Law and Policy Project.
“The League of Women Voters recognizes that companies invest a great deal of time, money and effort to prepare a RFP for a public-private partnership. It would be irresponsible for the State of Maryland to ask them to engage in such an endeavor until we have evaluated the environmental impacts of the project and whether we should proceed,” Richard Willson, co-president of the League of Women Voters of Maryland.
“Big highways have locked our region into a pattern of increasing suburban sprawl for two generations. In this era of climate change, it is irresponsible to barrel ahead with bigger, wider highways without concern for consequences for the future. Bigger roads mean more traffic and sprawl. Plus more pavement will create hotter temperatures and more floods in our communities. This bill is critical to ensure we don’t repeat the mistakes of the 1950s,” said Eliza Cava, Conservation Director of Audubon Naturalist Society.
“It would be foolish and counterproductive to forge ahead with widening highways without first evaluating whether they will help Maryland meet our greenhouse gas emissions reduction goal or set us back,” said Brian O’ Malley, President and CEO of Central Maryland Transportation Alliance.
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About the Sierra Club
Founded in 1892, the Sierra Club is America’s oldest and largest grassroots environmental organization. The Maryland Chapter has over 70,000 members and supporters, and the Sierra Club nationwide has approximately 800,000 members.