Feb 18, 2008 3:15 pm US/Eastern
O'Malley Prepares To Back Carbon Caps
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) ―
Governor Martin O'Malley is preparing to back a sweeping plan to confront global warming through a state carbon cap.
O'Malley has said he wants to be a leader on dealing with sea-level rise, and plans a Tuesday announcement to back a bill that would set the nation's toughest limits on carbon emissions, a 90 percent drop by 2050.
The bill would cap carbon emissions at 25 percent by 2020.
O'Malley planned to suggest changes to the bill, and those changes weren't made public in advance of O'Malley's announcement, but people with knowledge of the governor's plans said the main points of the global warming bill would get his backing.
"The spirit is upheld, absolutely," said Brad Heavner, director of Environment Maryland, who has been in talks with the administration on the global warming bill.
The governor's announcement was planned as a Senate committee prepares to take up the global warming bill Thursday.
More than 200 environmental activists met in Annapolis Monday to learn about the global warming bill and three other proposals backed by environmental groups.
The other three -- a plan to spend a $50 million Chesapeake Bay fund, an energy efficiency measure and a reform to state zoning laws that apply to development near waterways -- already have the administration's support.
O'Malley convened a task force last year to study global warming and recommend ways Maryland, with more than 3,000 miles of coastline, could address climate change.
The task force has tentatively proposed the nation's toughest carbon cap, but its report is not yet final.
A spokesman for O'Malley did not immediately comment on the governor's plans for the global warming bill.
The global warming plan would get a significant boost from the governor's backing, but questions remain from lawmakers about how much the carbon cap would cost and what it would do.
Scientists disagree on whether steep carbon caps are even possible.
"You have to know realistically whether it can take place or not," House Speaker Michael Busch told reporters.
Busch, a Democrat, addressed the environmental activists but did not mention the carbon cap bill.
"I like to think we've been working toward that for a four- or five-year period of time," Busch said.
A powerful congressman who attended the environmental briefing, Democratic Rep. Chris Van Hollen, told activists they should push for the carbon cap even though global warming is a global problem, not just a state problem.
"The Global Warming Solutions Act is so important to get done," Van Hollen said. "If you wait for the federal government, you're going to wait for a long time."
(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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