Maryland Senate passes carbon dioxide bill opposed by governor

Maryland Senate passes carbon dioxide bill opposed by governor

New York (Platts)--21Mar2006

The Maryland Senate passed Monday evening a bill that would cut four
pollutants, but has been denounced by Republican Governor Robert Ehrlich, who
opposes single-state regulation of carbon dioxide.

Sponsored by Senator Paul Pinsky, a Democrat, The Healthy Air Act, or
S.B. 154, passed on a 33-14 vote, while a companion bill, H.B. 189, is going
through committee hearings in the House of Delegates. The measure has 78
co-sponsors in the House.

The bill would require the state to impose standards on seven coal-fired
power plants, requiring them to cut emissions beyond federal mandates. The
plants would have to cut sulfur dioxide 83% by 2010 and 90% by 2015, nitrogen
oxides 80% by 2015, mercury 90% by 2010 and CO2 10% by 2018.

The legislation clashes with the governor's regulatory initiative, The
Clean Power Rule, which would cut SO2, NOx and mercury, but not CO2.

Ehrlich has not said whether he would veto the bill. "The governor
reserves judgment on all legislation because the language can change," said
Ehrlich's press secretary, Henry Fawell. Ehrlich maintains that carbon
regulation must be a national or international effort, and fears that CO2
rules could raise power prices by forcing the closure of at least one coal
plant, Fawell said.

The bill also gives Maryland the option of joining the Regional
Greenhouse Gas Initiative, but that also conflicts with the preference for
national or international policy, said Julie Obert, spokeswoman for the
Maryland Department of the Environment.

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