O'Malley administration officials said yesterday they don't yet know how they would achieve the governor's ambitious goal of cutting global-warming pollution by 90 percent by 2050.
But representatives of Maryland's only steel mill, the Domino Sugar factory in Baltimore and a paper mill in Western Maryland warned of closings or dire financial losses if the state passes a law with some of the nation's toughest limits on carbon dioxide.
"That plant is not going to survive," said Gene Burner, lobbyist for the ArcelorMittal steel plant at Sparrows Point, which employs 2,500 workers. "In order to make steel, you have to produce carbon dioxide. ... The only way to limit carbon dioxide is not to make it."
Gov. Martin O'Malley held a news conference to announce his support for legislation to cap greenhouse gas emissions on all industries, following laws in California, New Jersey, Washington, Oregon, Minnesota and Hawaii.
The law would use financial rewards and punishments - as well as voluntary energy efficiency programs - to cut greenhouse gas pollution by 25 percent by 2020 and by 90 percent by 2050.
Environmentalists, scientists, public health experts and alternative energy companies also pledged their support for the Global Warming Solutions Act during a Senate hearing yesterday. The supporters argue that state limits are necessary to spur federal action and will help to prevent deadly floods and economic chaos brought by climate change.
O'Malley and other proponents of the bill, sponsored by Sen. Paul Pinsky and Del. Kumar P. Barve, argue that the bill could boost the state's economy by adding jobs in the solar, wind and alternative-energy fields.
"The era of fossil fuels and the damage that they have done to the planet and the air we breathe, that era has to become an era of the past," O'Malley said at the news conference, flanked by environmental advocates.
The bill sets aggressive targets but doesn't say which industries should cut pollution or by how much. The language doesn't specify what technologies businesses should use instead of burning coal and oil, or how homeowners and commuters might be affected.
Instead, the proposal gives broad authority to the Maryland Department of the Environment to impose a series of regulations that could affect all sectors of the economy - including transportation, housing and power.
