MDE Presents on Climate Action Plan, Still Doesn’t Disclose Full Details to Public

Baltimore, MD --  The Maryland Commission on Climate Change (MCCC) hosted a meeting today where Governor Hogan’s Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) presented an overview of its draft Greenhouse Gas Reduction Act Plan (GGRA). Advocates are concerned that the Governor’s current plan will not provide enough ambitious climate action leadership, especially since details remain sparse. The release of the draft plan is already six months overdue.

Under the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Act the state is required to submit its final Greenhouse Gas Reduction Act Plan by December 31, 2019. Marylanders across the entire state deserve to know how the state proposes to act on climate to shape the roadmap to a more prosperous, healthier Maryland.

In response David Smedick, Maryland Chapter Campaign and Policy Director for the Sierra Club said the following:

“MDE needs to take climate action seriously and release an ambitious plan for the public to engage with as soon as possible. Governor Hogan has blown past his statutory deadline to deliver this draft plan and left it in the rear-view mirror. Marylanders have lost six months of public engagement and comment opportunities on a plan that will provide a climate policy roadmap for the next decade.

“We need to know if Maryland has a specific plan to join other climate leading states and nations by committing to move beyond coal-fired power. And we need to know if our state climate scientists are being made to push the Governor’s misguided highway expansion as a pollution reduction measure despite it putting more cars on the road. The public is missing valuable information that provides an opportunity for engagement, but we can’t do it without the plan in hand.”