Clean energy funds should help the environment

Marylanders spend tens of millions of dollars a year on clean energy — or so we think.

Unfortunately, thanks to loopholes in the signature clean energy program Maryland adopted in 2008, the Renewable Portfolio Standard, we haven’t gotten what we pay for. Over $200 million from ratepayers has gone to so-called “renewable” energy sources that are hampering climate action. Without action to clean up the program, that number will rise to a half-billion dollars by 2030.

Far more than just wind and solar, our renewable energy program is driving serious pollution. For example, since 2014, Maryland ratepayers have paid $26 million to a Virginia biomass facility that is too dirty to qualify for Virginia’s own clean energy standard. Marylanders’ clean energy dollars also support a trash incinerator in Montgomery County, Virginia, that is one of the top sources of air pollution in the D.C. metro area.

According to PEER (Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility), about a third of Maryland’s “clean energy” came from dirty sources in 2020. This is unacceptable. It’s critical that our clean energy dollars actually improve our environment, not put it in further jeopardy.

Ending pollution is everyone’s responsibility — starting with the government. Food & Water Watch and the Reclaim Renewable Energy Coalition are fighting to remove all dirty energy from inclusion in Maryland’s Renewable Portfolio Standard. Maryland legislators must pass The Reclaim Renewable Energy Act, House Bill 718, to close these dirty loopholes.

— Jomar Lloyd, New Carrollton