Give consumers control over their electric bills

Originally published in the Baltimore Examiner

By Baltimore Examiner Editorial
Published on Friday, March 21, 2008
BALTIMORE - No one likes to open their Baltimore Gas & Electric Co. bill these days. The prices cause many people to gasp for air. But as Peter Van Doren of the Cato Institute and University of Maryland Baltimore County professor Timothy Brennan said at a Maryland Public Policy Institute forum Thursday, no simple solutions exist to lowering electricity prices in either a regulated market or a partially deregulated market like Maryland. We like to offer readers clear solutions. And the vast majority of the time, that means allowing the free market to work. But electricity markets may be "different" than other markets, largely because electricity must be used as it is generated. It's not a pair of jeans that can be stored in a warehouse and shipped to a store with low inventory. It must be used right away. And it can only go where lines provide it access.

Energy Administration powering up for Md.’s future

By Andy Rosen, Daily Record Business Writer
Published on Friday, March 21, 2008
ANNAPOLIS - Maryland has to be more conscious about the way it steers itself into a complicated energy future, says Malcolm D. Woolf. And the director of the Maryland Energy Administration has been thinking about exactly how to do that. Woolf, who took the helm at the agency last summer, is presiding over a change in direction for the MEA. The goal, he said, is to look more broadly at Maryland's energy system. "MEA traditionally administered narrow energy-efficiency and renewable-energy programs," said Woolf. "What I think Maryland has found is there has not been an entity that was looking out for the overall energy picture."

BGE ratepayers, behold the man

Originally published in the Baltimore Sun

By Thomas A. Firey
Published on Friday, June 01, 2007
Marylanders gained some insight into their new governor last week when the state's Public Service Commission, controlled by Gov. Martin O'Malley, approved a 50 percent rate increase for residential customers of Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. The approval comes less than a year after a bitter gubernatorial campaign between Mr. O'Malley and incumbent Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. Recall that Mr. O'Malley lambasted Mr. Ehrlich's PSC for approving a 72 percent BGE rate increase - an increase that the Maryland General Assembly later scaled back to 15 percent. Mr. O'Malley told voters that Mr. Ehrlich and his commission were in the pockets of BGE. If Mr. O'Malley were elected governor, he promised, his administration would stand up to greedy energy companies and protect consumers.

Auctioning Maryland’s Pollution Permits

Maryland Policy Update No. 2005-1

By Ted Gayer
Published on Monday, March 07, 2005
The Environmental Protection Agency’s new cap-and-trade program for nitrogen oxide emissions enables Maryland to improve its air quality while avoiding many of the negative economic effects of traditional air regulations. The EPA program also gives Maryland lawmakers a choice: distribute the program’s emissions permits through a fair auction that could save taxpayers $78 million a year without harming the economy, or give away the permits (and their $78 million value) to politically favored businesses. Which will Annapolis choose?

Glendening's Smart Growth: Insider Game

Originally published in The Daily Record

By Wendell Cox
Published on Wednesday, May 15, 2002
Governor Parris Glendening has been a national leader in the anti-sprawl movement and is even credited with coining the enviable term "smart growth." But the Maryland legislative committee's recent approval of a $1.3 million state grant to finance and otherwise assist the Giant Foods relocation deal indicates that smart growth and fighting sprawl are a matter of who you are.

Environment

From Maryland 2002-2003: A Guide to the Issues

By H. Richard Seibert
Published on Tuesday, January 15, 2002
Discussions of environmental policy are often framed as pro-environment versus pro-economy. But good policymaking will advance both environmental and economic goals. To achieve that, policymakers must have rational, objective assessments of various potential risks and the costs of addressing those risks.