Attn:
MD House of Delegates Environment & Transportation Committee
250 Taylor House Office Building
Annapolis, Maryland 21401
MD Delegate/ Chairman Marc Korman, LD 16
MD Delegate/ Vice Chair Michele Guyton, LD 42 B
Hello Chairman/ Delegate Korman & Vice Chair/ Delegate Guyton:
We respectfully write to the committee for a favorable report for MD 2026 HB 0460 Solar Energy – Construction of Generating Stations in Priority Preservation Areas and Study.
Over the past 25 years in the Country and in the State of Maryland we have seen “the decline” of traditional energy where power plants have been “retired”.
“780 coal power units, individual generators capable of producing energy, have retired, according to The New York Times. Energy nonprofit organization Resources for the Future estimated in 2017 that around 816 natural gas units and 791 petroleum-fired units had retired since 2005.”
Now here in Maryland “In Maryland, 16 coal-fired units have shuttered since 2012, representing 3,866 megawatts of electricity, according to the industry tracker Global Energy Monitor. Experts say the trend is fueled by the emergence of cheap natural gas and increasing competition from renewable energy sources like wind and solar. They say stricter federal environmental regulations are also to blame.”….
All of this with the push to move away from “traditional energy” and more towards “renewables” ie, Wind and Solar…
In the State of Maryland under the Moore Administration since January 2023. Governor Moore signed the “power act” in 2023 to make the State the “wind Capital”of the Country, paving the way for the Offshore Wind project down on the shore with US Wind between Worcester County / Ocean City & Sussex County / Bethany Beach, DE. In 2024 the Legislature passed and the Governor signed MD 2024 SB 1, a 34 page regulatory bill that has ” killed competition” for consumers of energy in the State. In 2025 the Legislature passed and the Governor signed legislation into law to “expand solar capabilities” at the expense of a large chunk of the State’s farmland….
The results of these policies in the State, by mid 2025 energy rates have increased as much as 1000% in parts of the State since January of 2023.
With AI and Data Centers on the horizon, and the State facing potential blackouts, what’s been proposed by energy experts is Nuclear Power is going to be needed, like at Calvert Cliffs which plans to expand its “capabilities”…
The solution to Maryland’s energy problems, should be an ” all of the above approach” in working to reopen closed power plants with Natural Gas, working on going Nuclear, with Renewables Wind and Solar to “supplement /support” traditional energy. However, Wind and Solar alone are not going to get it done to meet these needs…
The answer is not destroying a large chunk of the States farmland with solar panels, and us leaving (PJM/ Its Current Grid), an idea “being floated” when currently the State has to import 40% of its energy from other States. For Maryland to go “on its own” would be “Ludacris” right now with the State’s current energy policies which are 100% failing its businesses and citizens…
So for all these reasons, is why we again write to the committee asking for a “favorable report” for MD 2026 HB 0460 Solar Energy – Construction of Generating Stations in Priority Preservation Areas and Study. There is a place for solar in energy generation, to help solve the State’s current “energy crisis” that is currently crushing businesses and citizens financially. However, let’s not destroy a large part of the States farmland to do it, there are many other areas around the State you can place solar panels on….
Maryland needs a solution now , not 20 years from now