Maryland Governor promotes nukes as “renewable energy”

Maryland.govOn December 17, 2019, Maryland’s Republican Governor Larry Hogan trumpeted his plan for a “Clean And Renewable Energy Standard” (CARES) which carves out state subsidies to expand nuclear power plant construction as a “renewable energy”.  Hogan’s plan proposes to create new “Clean Energy Resource Credits” available only to facilities in Maryland that generate electricity particularly through still non-existent small modular reactors, combined heat and power and natural gas or burning biomass that use carbon capture technology. Fracking gas and nuclear power are obviously not renewable energy. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) defines renewables as any energy source “replenished by natural processes at a rate that equals or exceeds its rate of use” to include wind, solar, tidal and geothermal. In fact, under Hogan’s plan, the real deal renewable energy projects will not be eligible for the new credit program. Instead Hogan is introducing a dangerous trojan house into energy portfolio standards policy. A controversial Maryland House Bill (HB 600) passed earlier in 2019 to author a study arguing nuclear power is a “renewable energy” for combating climate change is scheduled for release no later than January 1, 2020.  Maryland climate action activists and safe energy organizations have mobilized to oppose Hogan's diversion of state resources into a nuclear boondoogle.