2023-07-22 12:09:00
Get ready for a transformative “Earth Shot”
The last Apollo mission to the moon was launched a few weeks before I was born, and I grew up hearing people describe a daring goal as a “Moon Shot”.
What excites me lately is how ready this country is for an environmental and economic comeback. I consider it our “Earth Shot,” and my home state of Maryland is becoming Cape Canaveral’s successor.
Sparrows Point is one of our launch pads. It’s where Orsted, a wind energy company, will manufacture what it needs to power regarding 300,000 Maryland homes as part of a state goal for offshore wind farms to provide electricity to regarding 3 million homes. It will also create 125 good, well-paying jobs. And it’s all happening on a site that once housed the largest steel mill in the world.
The Free State shows what can happen when bold leadership and real dollars come together to tackle the challenge of climate change.
Governor Wes Moore and the state legislature set a goal last year for Maryland to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 60% by 2031 and achieve net zero emissions by 2045.
They began to pursue these goals: Demanding car dealerships offer more options for zero-emission cars and trucks each year until they reach 100% of sales by 2035, to enable community solar power projects to bring this renewable energy to more homes and businesses.
The White House and Congress did their part last year by passing a historic investment package to commit nearly $400 billion to growing clean energy and revitalizing American manufacturing. In Baltimore recently, Vice President Kamala Harris announced a $20 billion loan program for underserved neighborhoods that she called “the biggest investment in funding community climate projects in the history of our nation.”
The unprecedented clean energy program provides tax incentives, grants and loans for much of what Maryland seeks to accomplish. There are tax credits of up to $7,500 for the purchase of new and used electric cars and trucks. Pretty soon, the neighbors I see at our local watering hole near the Chesapeake Bay will be much less interested in my electric Ford F-150 because they’ll have one of their own.
Likewise, there are rebates of up to $8,000 for energy-efficient home upgrades like heat pumps and rooftop solar panels. This balances the upfront costs that hit immediately with the energy savings that only accrue over time. Owners of multi-family buildings can get rebates of up to $400,000.
Transportation and electricity account for nearly 60 percent of Maryland’s greenhouse gas emissions, making this federal support vital and targeted.
The real test is ensuring that the benefits of clean energy and the good jobs that will come from it are shared widely and equitably in Maryland and across all states.
“The climate crisis affects everyone, but it does not affect all communities equally,” noted the vice president. “Poor communities, rural communities, Indigenous communities and communities of color are often the hardest hit and the least able to recover. »
We see it in places like West Baltimore, where I spent summers with my grandparents and where asthma rates in children are five times the national average.
We need more contractors to do these energy upgrades, and there are federal funds for that, for example. We need to make sure that people from the communities that need it the most have a place in this training, because they are the ones who are most likely to serve their neighbours.
“When the President and I invest in climate, we intend to invest in jobs, invest in families, and invest in America,” Vice President Harris told the Coppin State University crowd.
In the 1920’s, National geographic called Maryland “America in Miniature” for its land and waters. Hopefully this moniker will take on a broader meaning as my state becomes the model of clean energy it aspires to, and does so in a way that allows all residents to feel the benefits. That’s when we’ll know that this Earth Shot led to that “giant leap for humanity” we’ve heard regarding.
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