Reclaim Renewable Energy Act of 2022

What is the Reclaim Renewable Energy Act?

When you think about renewable energy, what comes to mind?  

You might think about solar power - and community solar makes solar power accessible to all. You might think about wind power - and offshore wind turbines are soon to be built off the coast of Ocean City. You might think about geothermal or hydropower - harnessing natural resources, emissions-free. But do you think about burning trash? 

Maryland created a Renewable Portfolio Standard program in 2004 to subsidize new renewable energy development, with money from our utility bills. But over time, it’s gotten dirtier and dirtier. Burning chicken litter for energy was placed in the top-tier, most-subsidized  “renewable energy” category in 2008, a boon to factory farms on the Eastern Shore. Trash incineration was moved to the same “renewable energy” category in 2011, a giveaway to proposed incinerators facing staunch community opposition in Frederick and in Baltimore.

 Burning wood products counts as renewable, and the industry has been pushing this year to add even more forestry products to the program - despite the significant greenhouse gas emissions and public health harm that such facilities produce. So does using food waste, manure, and other organic materials to produce methane, a more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.

Meanwhile, dollars spent on these dirty “renewable” energy sources mean dollars not spent on real, emissions-free renewables. In the face of the climate crisis mounting every day, this can’t go on any longer.

The Reclaim Renewable Energy Act eliminates trash incineration from the Renewable Portfolio Standard, redirecting $24 million per year away from polluting incinerators in environmental justice communities toward the renewable energy we need. And we're working to make sure that polluters like biomass and biogas don't follow in trash incineration's footsteps and gain a foothold in Maryland, too.