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2017 Legislative Preview
In Maryland, the General Assembly meets every year for ninety days, from January to April. During this time, the State’s legislators introduce legislation on a variety of issues and must work together to pass a budget for the year ahead. With the 2017 Maryland General Assembly Session quickly approaching, Clean Water Action is putting together an ambitious plan to advocate for important legislation that will protect and preserve the environment. Here is a quick overview:
Toxics: Clean Water will push for bans on products like wheel weights, switches, and relays that contain powerfulProtect Maryland from fracking
Hydraulic fracturing or fracking has become quite the hot button issue, not just in the entire country, but also especially in Maryland. This invasive and dangerous method for obtaining natural gas could soon find its way to the state. In 2015 the Maryland General Assembly passed a two-year moratorium or ban on fracking. However this temporary ban will be lifted in October 2017 and the Hogan administration seems more than eager to move forward with fracking in the state once the moratorium is lifted. Western Maryland is especially vulnerable with multiple gas basins that reach the area that
Cracking Down on Shell’s Cracker Plant
Thirty miles northwest of Pittsburgh in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, Royal Dutch Shell is preparing to build the largest petrochemical processing facility that our region has ever seen. Every day, Shell’s Ethane Cracker Plant will consume ethane from 88 million gallons of natural gas, much of it gained by hydraulic fracturing, and process it into ethylene, one of the major components of plastic products.
So far, the arrival of Shell and their plans to build this facility have been heralded as a savior for this low income area. The state, county, and municipal governments have rolled out the
Moving Toward a Ban on Fracking
On November 1 st the Baltimore City Council public hearing featured an often very controversial issue, fracking. At the hearing bills are voted on by a committee after public testimony to see if they will be voted on at a full city council meeting. Two different pieces of legislature involving fracking, first a resolution from the city to recommend banning fracking statewide and second a ban on fracking in the city of Baltimore, were brought to the committee. The invasive form of drilling for natural gas is known to contaminate water supplies and cause earthquakes. This and the need to do away
Baltimore residents rally against #crudeoiltrains - but no progress on safety bill
"I don't want to be sitting here when something happens and we didn't do everything we could possibly do to prevent it."
With those words, Baltimore City Councilwoman Mary Pat Clarke expressed her dismay that the Oil Trains Ordinance - a bill requiring the city to study the health impacts and risks of the crude oil trains that travel through Baltimore - would not even be receiving a vote at its public hearing last Tuesday. Due to legal questions that could have been addressed when the bill was introduced eleven months ago, but weren't raised until last week, the Council's Judiciary Committee