And So It Begins...

The Great Global Warming Swindle comes to Maryland.

The Maryland Climate Change Commission, which is run by an avowed alarmist advocacy group and shares a financial benefactor with Governor O'Malley, is meeting in Bethesda today:

Saying there's no time to delay bold steps to prevent global warming, a Maryland commission on climate change is poised to propose the nation's toughest carbon cap when the legislature returns next month.The commission will call climate change an immediate threat to the state.The report will suggest a law requiring carbon emissions to go down 25 percent by 2020, and 90 percent by 2050.If adopted, the goal would be the nation's most ambitious law to reduce emissions of carbon, a greenhouse gas element that contributes to global warming. New Jersey, California and Florida have set goals of reducing carbon emissions 80 percent by 2050.The commission was established by Gov. Martin O'Malley, and its suggestions are expected to underlie the governor's stated plan of making Maryland a leader in addressing climate change.

Neither the MCCC page on the Maryland Department of the Environment website, nor the cookie cutter MCCC page run by Center for Climate Strategies, the aforementioned advocacy group, announced the meeting, which is supposed to be open to the public. Then again this is to
be expected, given that MCCC Working Group Chair Tad Aburn won't release official
public documents to... the public.

The polcies and legislation the MCCC (as puppeted by CCS) will propose are already available, you can read the draft reports here. The policy recommendations will be similar to the same CCS recommendations in Arizona, New Mexico, South Carolina, Colorado, Minnesota, Montana, and Vermont.

Needless to say the policy recommendations will mean higher energy costs for consumers, constraints on economic growth, and more government intervention into our daily lives.

In fact, the Maryland Public Service Commission, you know the folks O'Malley appointed to save us from BGE rate increases, today recommended similar polices to the MCCC proposals, like demand side management and public benefits fees/user fees.

Ironically Jay Hancock noted that the PSC determined that:
"The wind option our consultants modeled does not provide net economic benefits in either the short- or long-term. Wind does, however, represent a source of clean, carbon-free power."

Where as MCCC/CCS recommends "investments" in wind power and other clean energy, which similarly lack any economic value for Marylanders.