Martin O'Malley Is a Real Climate Hawk.
The data-loving Maryland gov could have the greenest credentials of any '16 contender.
O'Malley is the rare elected official who seems genuinely motivated to address climate change. "I deal with a lot of politicians in my work as a climate advocate," says Mike Tidwell, director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network. "Martin O'Malley, more than any politician I know, really loses sleep over climate change. He is deeply concerned about climate change and his actions over the last eight years reveal that. He's pushed the envelope more than anyone I've seen. He's the kind of politician where his staff comes in and says, ‘Here's what we propose to do,' and most politicians would say, ‘Let's cut that down a little,' and Martin O'Malley regularly says, ‘We can't do better than that? Push a little harder?'"
Maryland, because it's part of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), requires its electric utilities to buy permits for their carbon pollution. The cost of those permits, according to the state government's estimate, raises electricity bills by only an average of 0.61 percent. The proceeds, around $80 million this year, go into energy-efficiency programs that can then help lower utility bills for Maryland citizens.
The state is also pushing ahead with lots of other, smaller initiatives to cut greenhouse gas emissions. To reduce methane creation from landfills, for example, it is trying to amp up recycling and composting with the goal of reaching 65 percent waste diversion by 2020. It is planting trees on public land to expand carbon sinks, it follows the highest International Energy Conservation Code from the International Code Council for public buildings, and it is expanding rail lines in Baltimore and the Maryland suburbs of D.C.
Beyond RGGI, Maryland mostly has to rely on carrots rather than sticks to entice non-government entities to cut emissions. For example, the state is reducing peak energy demand by offering discounts on electricity bills to consumers who cut their peak-time usage. Maryland's secretary of natural resources, Joseph Gill, is overseeing a state program to plant trees on private land. "I went to the first planting in Montgomery County and the homeowner said he spent six hours a week mowing his huge lawn and he was thrilled to see 400 trees going in," Gill recounts at the ClimateStat meeting.
The O'Malley administration boasts that Maryland's greenhouse gas emissions are down 9.7 percent since 2006, the year before he took office.
http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2014/12/martin-omalley-longshot-presidential-candidate-and-real-climate-hawk
We should incentivize production of clean energy—it's better for our environment & consumers.
- Martin O'Malley
A JOBS AGENDA FOR IOWA'S RENEWABLE ENERGY FUTURE
As a nation we have made great strides toward becoming energy independent. Now is the time to accelerate that progress.
I believe, within 35 years, our country can and should be 100% powered by clean energy, supported by millions of new jobs. But we have to accelerate the transition right now.
https://martinomalley.com/climate/iowa/
"Thus far, no other candidate has said they're going to make climate change their top priority.
Martin O'Malley has not only done that, but he has outlined a plan that would enact emissions reductions in line with what scientists say is necessary to slow global climate change—worldwide emissions reductions of 40-70 percent by 2050—and he's the only candidate to do that, too. His plan would phase out fossil-fueled power plants altogether, by midcentury. Along with the USA Today op-ed, he released a white paper further outlining his scheme."
#?OMalley2016 #?NewLeadership #?CleanEnergy
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