A commission on global warming appointed by Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley wants state lawmakers to implement policies that would further harm an economy already hit by the housing market downturn, with no proof that anything positive would result for the climate.
The Maryland Commission on Climate Change, which consists of a handful of “experts” like the state’s school superintendent and transportation secretary, released several interim recommendations in early December. Unfortunately their work isn’t done, as the panel plans to propose new laws in January and produce a final report in April.
In its interim report, the group set several aggressive goals for reducing greenhouse gases, namely carbon dioxide — believed to be the primary cause for global warming — within the state.
Included is a recommendation to reduce such emissions by 25 percent below 2006 emission levels by the year 2020, and 90 percent below 2006 levels by 2050. This is even more ambitious than the widely heralded (among environmental leftists) goal California set to reduce carbon emissions by 80percent by the same year.
However, if you ask anyone involved with the commission how they intend to reach those targets, you get the standard shoulder shrug.
“If you asked me right now, how are you going to do it? What exactly are you going to do? The answer is, I don’t know,” Tad Aburn, director of the state’s Air and Radiation Management Division within the Maryland Department of the Environment, told The Associated Press last month.
The scary truth that the commission doesn’t address is that the only way to “get there” is to put damaging costs — either in taxes, fines, surcharges or reduced availability of energy — upon businesses, consumers and taxpayers.
One measure panel members want is a public benefits fund, which would dedicate a percentage of utilities’ revenues toward energy efficiency initiatives — in other words, another tax on your electricity.
Utilities would also be faced with unrealistic mandates to generate a certain amount of their power by inefficient and costly “renewable” sources (like burning wood, that great nonpollutant, and yes I’m being sarcastic).
And how will Eastern Shore residents feel about their vistas when they are marred by thousands of those giant, noisy wind turbines?
Another policy the commission would like to see implemented is a cap-and-trade program, which would place a mandatory limit upon utilities for their carbon emissions, mostly from their coal-fired power plants.
Companies would be required to either keep their emissions below a government-established “cap” or have to buy credits from other utilities that are below the limit, creating an artificially set trade system aligned with the aforementioned reduction goals. This sets the stage for what amounts to energy rationing — something most Third World countries are forced into on a near-daily basis.
What else do the climate change commissioners — nudged by that believer in miracles, Aburn — want to see in Maryland?
In true Nike “just do it” fashion, they demand that state government “show leadership” by amending its building codes to emphasize greater energy efficiency.
Of course everyone favors saving costs of electricity, but do the measures they propose cost more to implement than they save on the costs of the power itself?
Panel members don’t know and don’t care, because this is not about taxpayer concerns — it’s about adjusting the Earth’s thermostat to their ideal comfort level, according to their highly disputed climate forecasts.
Elsewhere in government, the commission suggests the creation of an Office of Sustainability within the governor’s office; an Office of Energy Information in the Maryland Energy Administration; an energy efficiency manager in each state department and agency; and an annual reporting and accountability protocol for each agency.
As if that wasn’t enough, they want a climate change education plan advanced for residents, in schools and through the media. So there you go: more energy-usage spies running around to keep you in line. And you thought the smoking and fatty-food Nazis were bad.
This will greatly relieve Marylanders of their climate-burdened consciences, according to Aburn. “It sends a very significant message of how Maryland feels about climate change,” he told the AP.
Never mind the price tag or if it will actually do anything for your climate or sea-level rise. All that matters is that the Commission on Climate Change will finally salve your global warming wounded soul.
Paul Chesser is director of Climate Strategies Watch, which assesses the development of global warming policies in the states.
