Posted on 02/25/2007 10:35:25 AM PST by Ellesu
Md. lawmakers hope emissions bill will set example for other states:
The predicted effects of global warming in Maryland are scary: the Chesapeake Bay spilling over its shores, stronger storms and a shake-up of the species that can survive here.
Some experts say the relative sea level rise here could be more than 2 feet by the end of the century, flooding many low-lying areas of Anne Arundel and Queen Anne's counties.
And that potential fallout has some lawmakers in Annapolis concerned - and inspired to do something about it.
"Thirty years ago, people called global warming science fiction," Sen. Paul Pinsky told his colleagues in Annapolis last week. "Today, scientists around the globe simply call it science."
As Mr. Pinsky pitched his plan for Maryland to combat global warming, the main question in the room wasn't whether or not global warming is a problem. The central question was: Should Maryland residents and businesses be forced to do something about it?
Mr. Pinsky, a Prince George's Democrat, is sponsoring a bill that would require the state to cut its emissions of global warming-causing greenhouse gases back to 1990 levels by 2020.
The bill doesn't say exactly how the state should make the reductions. Instead, it gives wide latitude to the Maryland Department of the Environment and a new state Office of Climate Change to figure it out.
Some supporters are calling the bill the "Schwarzenegger Plan," because it's modeled after a law passed in California that was championed there by Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Mr. Pinsky's bill faces uncertain odds, though it does boast about 60 cosponsors between the state Senate and the House of Delegates. If it doesn't pass, the senator promises to keep bringing it back until it does.
He's convinced that the time has come for Maryland to make a serious attempt at cutting down on greenhouse gas emissions. And he believes the tide is swinging his way.
"There really has been a culture of change of people being more keenly aware," Mr. Pinsky said in an interview.
'Count on it'
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, global warming occurs when certain gases, such as carbon dioxide, get trapped in the earth's atmosphere. Those gases trap heat, instead of allowing it to dissipate away from Earth - thus the nickname, "greenhouse effect."
The result is increased air temperature and melting of glaciers and ice caps. Those, in turn, can lead to sea level rise and changes in the climate around the globe - including the possibility of more frequent or more severe storms.
An international group that studies the matter, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, recently issued a report that said it is "very likely" that human activities are contributing to warming.
Those activities include burning fossil fuels, mainly through creating electricity and driving vehicles. Other man-made sources of greenhouse gases include industry, agriculture and waste management, according to the EPA.
The IPCC report predicted a 7-inch to 23-inch sea level rise by the end of the century, as well as a 2 to 11.5 degree Fahrenheit air temperature rise.
While many policymakers and politicians want a 100 percent guarantee from scientists, that rarely happens in science, said Dr. Donald Boesch, president of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science.
But the language in the IPCC report is quite strong and leaves very little room for doubt, said Dr. Boesch, an oceanographer who has worked in both the Chesapeake Bay and in Louisiana.
"Scientists have been very cautious about what they've concluded, so you can't allege easily they've overplayed their case," he said.
Like it or not, that sea level rise is a certainty in the Chesapeake Bay, Dr. Boesch said.
"I would think you'd better plan for it," he said. "You better count on it."
Gauging the impact
Global warming and sea level rise should be particularly worrisome to Marylanders, experts say.
That's because as the waters are rising, the state's land is sinking due to geologic forces. When you add the two together, the potential "relative sea level rise" is dramatic.
Zoe Johnson, a coastal planner at the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, said Maryland's relative sea level rise could be 12 to 28 inches during the next century.
That foot or two of water could reshape the coastlines of Maryland's bay and rivers. Wetlands could become submerged and water could creep closer to homes, Ms. Johnson said.
And on top of that, more water in the bay can translate to more damage from hurricanes, tropical storms and nor'easters, Ms. Johnson said.
That could mean more flooding or more storm damage at low-lying places like the Annapolis City Dock, she said.
And if the waters are warmer as well due to global warming, that means storms will be able to maintain strength further up the coast during hurricane season.
Dr. Michael Kearney, a coastal geology professor at the University of Maryland, College Park, testified last week that damage from storms like 2003's Tropical Storm Isabel could be a more common occurrence.
"Isabel was pretty much a wake-up call of what we could expect and what we should expect," he said.
The Department of Natural Resources is helping local governments to plan for those kind of scenarios - tackling issues such as whether to allow more shoreline development. Most recently, the DNR has been working with some Eastern Shore communities.
The DNR plans to work with Anne Arundel County planners as they begin to revise the county's long-term development plan later this year.
"Sea level rise has so many impacts. We're trying to integrate sea level rise into all planning," Ms. Johnson said.
'Huge step'
As planning gets under way to cope with sea level rise, the political efforts like Mr. Pinsky's continue to try and prevent it from happening.
Gov. Martin O'Malley's administration supports the bill with some modifications aimed at making it easier and less expensive to enact.
Tad Aburn, the state's top air quality official, said Mr. Pinsky's bill complements last year's Healthy Air Act and the Clean Cars Act, which is headed toward approval this week. Both acts will lead to a reduction in carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas.
Critics of such efforts, however, point out that Maryland is a very small state. Even major reductions in a small state will do little to change the global problem of climate change - something that supporters acknowledge.
Representatives from business and industrial groups testified this week that a national greenhouse gas program is the way to go.
Michael Powell, a lobbyist representing the Maryland Industrial Technology Alliance, questioned the vague nature of the bill during a hearing in Annapolis last week.
Mr. Powell criticized the bill for giving a "blank check" to the Maryland Department of the Environment to create a greenhouse gas reduction plan.
And he said cutting back to 1990 levels would be severe, and could drive companies that have emissions out of the state.
"That is a draconian, huge, huge step," he said.
But others testified that the reductions could help the economy in the long run. Marylanders would likely end up using less energy, therefore saving money.
And there still appear to be some global warming skeptics in the General Assembly. During the bill hearing, Republican Sens. Richard E. Colburn and Andrew P. Harris peppered scientists with questions about the validity of global warming claims.
"It seems to me there's always been storms, there's always been hurricanes," said Mr. Colburn, who is from low-lying Dorchester County on the Eastern Shore.
The debate over the bill will be rehashed in March, when members of two House of Delegates committees take up the bill.
Mr. Pinsky urged his fellow lawmakers to support the bill as a means of encouraging other states - and perhaps the federal government - to join in fighting global warming.
"Some may ask why should an individual state like Maryland set a policy on global problem ... Unfortunately, the United States government has not set limits, so it falls to us," he said.
They are coming for your wallet.
--this would be funny , if it wasn't so supremely stupid---
Basically, one tsunami or undersea landslide can wipe out huge swaths of coastline development in seconds.
We may spend $$$ trillions in global warming mitigation to save coastlines only to confounded by a singular unpredicted movement of the Earth's crust.
At least the predicted sea level rise caused by global warming will be a slow process, easily dealt with.
Ah, Venice.
Global Warming Ping!
Come on now Sir, if we lost all of those states, what would we have to bitch about, except maybe Kalifornia?
Sure, put them in also. Oregon, Washington state, several others come to mind. We can just have the beach closer to us than it is now. Will save GAS driving to the beach.
Wow! Is there any Kool-Aid left or did this writer drink it all?
Can you imagine beaches in Nevada? I say bring it on! What was yor MOS?
"I would think you'd better plan for it," he said. "You better count on it."
OK, Professor, willing to put your career and livelihood on the line? If this doesn't happen at all, that would make you a complete and utter fraud, and a dangerous one at that, wouldn't it? Are you willing to resign your position and leave your profession if there's no evidence of Chesapeake flooding -- even 1/2 an inch -- in 2 years, 5 years, 10 years...?
*crickets*
ping
They all seem to have rushed right on by this ineresting little fact.
These stories invariably sound like bedtime stories with all the fairy tale terms like 'scary.'
It doesn't even pretend to be science but the infantilism is never-ceasing with the MSM.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.