April 23rd, 2023 by WCBC Radio

The House Republican Caucus responded to Governor Wes Moore’s signing of several pieces of radical environmental legislation passed during the 2023 Legislative Session. “The members of our Caucus fought tirelessly during the Legislative Session to defeat, or at least to improve these pieces of legislation,” said House Minority Leader Jason Buckel. “These bills drive up the costs for consumers and small businesses, making Maryland’s high cost-of-living even more unsustainable.”

House Bill 230/Senate Bill 224 – Clean Trucks Act of 2023 expands the California Gasoline-Powered Car Ban to include medium- and heavy-duty vehicles. The California Ban currently requires 40-75% of new mid- and heavy-duty vehicle sales to be electric vehicles by 2035. However, California is considering a full ban on gas and diesel-powered mid- and heavy-duty trucks by 2040. Under the Clean Trucks Act, Maryland will also adopt this full ban should California make that change.

“This bill, along with the enactment of the California Car Ban the Moore Administration pushed through in March, will further overtax our electrical grid here in Maryland and increase costs to consumers,” said Buckel. “Maryland is already a net importer of energy every year. We have no idea if our electrical grid will be able to handle these additional demands.”

Senate Bill 780 – POWER Act – aims to radically increase the number of offshore wind projects in Maryland, ignoring the growing concerns that both the construction and the operation of these facilities may have devastating impacts on marine mammals and the Atlantic ecosystem.

“We are very concerned not only about the increased costs to ratepayers as they subsidize these costly wind projects but also the environmental costs of these 800-foot-tall wind turbines off our coast,” said House Minority Whip Jesse Pippy.  “Additionally, there have been a record number of whale and dolphin deaths on our Atlantic shores that appear to correlate with an increase in the construction and operation of these giant wind turbines. It is irresponsible to push for such a profound increase in the number of offshore wind projects without fully understanding what impact they have on our fragile marine environments in Ocean City.”