Nina Smith<\/strong>, Governor’s Office: 410-533-0363<\/a> FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n ANNAPOLIS, MD (June 2, 2014)<\/b> <\/i>Governor O\u2019Malley today released the following statement in response to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency\u2019s announcement of a proposed rule to reduce carbon dioxide pollution from existing power plants:<\/p>\n \u201cClimate change is transforming the world in profound ways that continue to evolve. We still have time to become great ancestors, and we have a moral obligation to our children and our grandchildren to act now while we can make a difference.<\/i><\/p>\n \u201cI congratulate and thank President Obama for his bold leadership. Today\u2019s announcement is the first federal regulatory action to set carbon pollution standards for existing fossil fuel-fired power plants, the largest single source of the nation\u2019s greenhouse gas emissions.<\/i><\/p>\n \u201cMaryland is among the nation\u2019s most vulnerable states to the effects of sea level rise from climate change, and we are taking strong action to reduce carbon pollution. Three of our<\/i>16 strategic goals<\/i><\/a> bear on this directly, our goals:<\/i>to reduce Maryland\u2019s greenhouse gas emissions 25% by 2020<\/i><\/a>; <\/i>to increase Maryland\u2019s in-state renewable generation to 20% by 2022<\/i><\/a>; and <\/i>to reduce energy consumption in Maryland 15% by 2015<\/i><\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n \u201cMaryland regulates carbon emissions from power plants through the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a partnership with eight other East Coast states. RGGI is a key component of<\/i>Maryland\u2019s Plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions<\/i><\/a> and we are pleased to see the federal proposal recognize the value of a regional approach.<\/i><\/p>\n \u201cWe are already witnessing a transformation in the U.S. economy to increased production of lower carbon energy through fuel switching to natural gas and expansion of wind, solar, geothermal, and other renewable non-carbon intensive energy sources. The President\u2019s proposal will: (1) help us continue to<\/i>expand our use of renewable sources of energy<\/i><\/a> and<\/i>reduce harmful air pollution<\/i><\/a> responsible for increased risk of heart and lung disease; (2) give us greater energy security; (3) make important strides in improving public health; and (4) unleash the power of our innovative green economy.<\/i><\/p>\n \u201cWe must preserve our planet and grow our economy simultaneously. We cannot become more prosperous without the living systems upon which our prosperity depends.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n ###<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Click <\/i>here<\/i><\/a> for more information on Maryland\u2019s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" MEDIA CONTACTS: Nina Smith, Governor’s Office: 410-533-0363 nina.smith@maryland.gov FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: ANNAPOLIS, MD (June 2, 2014) Governor O\u2019Malley today released the following statement in response to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency\u2019s announcement of a proposed rule to reduce carbon dioxide pollution from existing power plants: \u201cClimate change is transforming the world in profound ways that Read the Rest…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":296,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,8,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-991","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-climate-change-2","category-governor-omalley","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/991","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=991"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/991\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":993,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/991\/revisions\/993"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/296"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=991"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=991"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
nina.smith@maryland.gov<\/a><\/p>\n