On Wednesday, our state made history, choosing Adrienne Jones as Speaker of the House of Delegates, the first woman and the first African American to hold one of the top leadership positions in our state. We at the Sierra Club celebrate and honor this long overdue and essential progress.
Over the years, we have been privileged to work with Speaker Jones. She has proven herself to be an environmental champion, and we expect her to be a strong leader in confronting the environmental and economic challenges our state is facing. This past session, she co-sponsored several key environmental bills, including legislation to dramatically grow our state’s wind and solar energy (the Clean Energy Jobs Act), ensure a full and timely environmental review of all large highway projects, enable Maryland to join the multi-state Transportation & Climate Initiative, and ban the dangerous pesticide chlorpyrifos.
Her selection comes at a time when our state, our nation, and our planet are grappling with the existential challenge of climate change. Remedying climate change is a matter of necessity, and it also is a matter of simple justice, as we know that those who suffer the most from climate change often are low-income communities and people of color. We must ensure that every Marylander has clean air to breathe and safe water to drink, and that we protect the Chesapeake Bay and its watershed. A clean, green economy will provide significant economic benefits and will protect Maryland’s long term economic future.
We also thank Chairwoman McIntosh and Chairman Davis for their leadership in supporting the selection of Adrienne Jones as Speaker. We look forward to working closely with Speaker Jones and her leadership team in addressing our state’s critical environmental challenges.