It is hard to understand: Environmental and community groups across the state have come together to support clean energy legislation, and they are opposed by — the Chesapeake Bay Foundation? (“Environmental bills to watch during the 2023 Maryland General Assembly session,” March 8.)
The Reclaim Renewable Energy Act would remove factory farm gas, woody biomass and trash incineration from the list of energy sources that receive ratepayer subsidies under Maryland’s renewable portfolio standard. But the Bay Foundation supports spending more money to support corporations that build digesters that turn poultry industry waste into methane gas.
Factory farms create pollution that harms our air and water; digesters do not remove that pollution and, in fact, in some cases may make the problem worse, creating a byproduct that is loaded with contaminants already known to pollute the Chesapeake Bay. These waste management techniques are not clean energy; that is why dozens of independent community groups are not partnering with polluting industries and are working hard to clean up our state’s renewable standard.
— Mitch Jones, Baltimore
The writer is managing director of policy and litigation for Food & Water Watch.
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