Posted on 02/08/25
| News Source: FOX45
Annapolis, MD - Feb. 8, 2025 - Numerous lawmakers in Maryland, including leaders in the General Assembly, are proposing different pieces of legislation aimed to address the state's growing energy crisis.
On Monday, Senate President Bill Ferguson and House Speaker Adrienne Jones, and other lawmakers, unveiled a package of legislation aimed at reducing the price of energy for residents across the state, while increasing the amount of energy generated in the state of Maryland. This as the demand from data centers and electrification increase, at the same time power plants like Brandon Shores are expected to retire in the near future. Currently Maryland imports about 40 percent of it's energy from other states.
“We recognize that renewable energy is the future but we also recognize that no single form of energy can meet our growing demand,” Speaker Jones said.
When asked if the energy crisis, and people’s frustrations with high energy bills, were an indication the state over-invested in climate solutions, Sen. Ferguson was quick to push back. He said the realities of the legislation show “it’s just the opposite.”
He continued to say technological advances have been “more energy consuming than we could have imagined.”
However, Republican lawmakers like Senator Stephen Hershey said this energy crisis "should not have been a surprise.'
"We've known for a very long period of time that as we continue to rely on intermittent power sources, like solar, like wind, that we just would not be able to meet the reliability capacity that PJM strives for," Sen. Hershey said.
While achieving climate and clean energy goals has been a big focus for many lawmakers, some of the energy conversations we are currently having are not new.
For instance, at the beginning of the 2024 session, there was a joint committee hearing related to the electrification of the grid, where a study was presented. Ultimately it was determined the grid could handle the climate goals. However, during that hearing, it was acknowledged that additional data center development was not largely considered.
That same year, a bill was proposed related to the development of a nuclear energy task force, which could have led to future planning. When presenting that bill, Sen. Benjamin Brooks said renewable sources would not be able to replace fossil fuels, but acknowledged nuclear energy could be the "missing link." That bill never made it out of committee.
Also, in 2024, a version of the Ratepayer Protection Act aimed at helping natural gas customers also failed to make it out of committee. A similar version of the bill is currently being debated.
In 2023, there were also discussions of natural gas rates increasing, and what impact climate policies were having on the natural gas industry. Before that, lawmakers passed the Climate Solutions Now Act in 2022.