Press Release: 2024-10-21

Senate President Ferguson's statement on trash incineration and MD's Renewable Portfolio Standard

 

October 18, 2024

We are excited that Senate President Ferguson will sponsor the Reclaim Renewable Energy Act, which will eliminate trash incineration from Maryland’s Renewable Portfolio Standard and end subsidies for burning trash as renewable energy. For over a decade, Maryland has wasted over $100 million cumulatively subsidizing trash incineration as “renewable energy” despite the fact that incinerators emit more greenhouse gas emissions per unit of energy produced than any other power source, even coal.

For too long, communities polluted by trash incinerators or fighting new trash incinerators in Baltimore City, Montgomery County, Frederick County, and Carroll County have had to bear the injustice of being forced to subsidize their polluters and have had to fight uphill against state-sponsored greenwashing. Righting this wrong by passing the Reclaim Renewable Energy Act will make Maryland a more effective climate leader and finally put an end to this environmental injustice. We applaud the leadership of the frontline community organizations and activists who have never stopped fighting against the greenwashing of trash incinerators, and we call on Governor Moore and Speaker Jones to support the Reclaim Renewable Energy Act and ensure that it passes in 2025.