The following message was delivered by Teresa Ball at a press conference this morning. For more context, see Historic Bipartisan Coal Transition Legislation Introduced in Maryland.
I am Teresa Ball a resident of Charles County MD where the Morgantown coal-fired plant is located.
A frightening reality… I am a part of the statistic that notes, "68% of African Americans live within 30 miles of a coal-fired power plant."
I have grave concerns about the health impacts due to exposure to the harmful emissions from this plant for me as well as my family and friends.
For this reason, I support and believe SB 148 is critical to the State of Maryland as it not only establishes a date for ending the use of coal as a source of electric generation, but most importantly the bill ensures that the State of Maryland plans for this inevitable shift.
The shift to a green economy is what we would all like to see, but how we get there will require much planning and deliberation to ensure that we protect our local economies, to include the workforce that may be impacted by the transition.
We need a "just" transition!
A transition that balances economic growth, funding resources for workforce re-training, collaborations, partnerships as well as economic protections.
If you peruse the news, you can find articles about communities that have been devastated by this shift due to a lack of planning. Let's not let this happen in Maryland.
We have the ability to shape the outcome and I believe we should take advantage of this momentum... the local and national momentum for this transition.
I am encouraging my family and friends to call their legislators and ask them to support the bill!
By supporting this bill, our legislators vote yes for planning and protection through the creation of a State-level task force, a key component to the transition from fossil fuel reliance in the State of Maryland.
SB 148 is being heard in the Senate right now.