WASHINGTON -- Insurance companies refuse to underwrite new flood policies along coastal areas of the Eastern Shore. Rising sea levels eat away at islands in the Chesapeake Bay. The federal government blocks the state from enforcing greenhouse gas emissions from new cars and trucks.
These are the challenges that concern environmental advocates in Maryland. That is why many are gratified to see climate change became an important issue in the presidential campaign leading up to Maryland's the primary vote tomorrow.
"One of the most critical questions for the candidates has been their stance on global warming," said Josh Tulkin, deputy director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network. That's good news, Tulkin says, for Marylanders.
"All the EPA modeling shows that the Chesapeake region, especially Maryland, is one of the most vulnerable regions to sea-level rise, severe weather and other impacts of global warming," he said.
"This isn't about polar bears. This is actually about an impact on people in Maryland."
"Global warming is the exact right [issue] for them to be focused on," agreed Brad Heavner, the state director for Environment Maryland.
"We want in Maryland and across the country to build the clean energy economy, and it can have huge benefits from the beginning and deal with this enormous environmental problem."
The campaigns have taken notice.
"What kind of a planet are we going to pass on to the next generation of Americans?"
Sen. John McCain asked during a debate in December. Of climate change, the Arizona Republican said, "It's real, we've got to address it, we can do it with technology, with `cap and trade,' with capitalist and free enterprise motivation."
The major candidates in both parties all have talked about curbing the greenhouse gases that scientists say contribute to global warming and promoting clean new energy sources.
That could mean good news for the likes of BP Solar, which is more than doubling its solar panel manufacturing plant in Frederick, and U.S. Wind Force, the Pennsylvania company that wants to lease state forest lands in Western Maryland to build electricity-generating windmills.
But Will Baker says it isn't enough. Baker, the president of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, wants to hear the candidates address environmental issues beyond climate change and alternative energy.
