Clean Air media campaign presentation, September 3, 2003

с CLEAN AIR MEDIA CAMPAIGN The Issue in General: • Problems beyond our control are impeding our efforts to comply with the Clean Air Act; although other states are facing similar problems, the Sierra Club is using lawsuits to focus attention on the failures of the Washington Metropolitan Region. • There is a high probability that one or more Regions in Maryland will fail to comply with some provision or deadline of the Act within the next two to three years (possibly as early as the end of this year) through no fault of ours. • Penalties we may incur include: (1) as of January 22, 2004, the Washington Region may be subject to an immediate loss of all federal highway funds12, and (2) as of November 15, 2005, the state may be required to assess fines on every “major source” business in the Region of at least $7,700 for every ton of emissions in excess of 80% of their permitted emissions cap! • There is a fundamental question as to whether this Administration should, (i) stay silent and rely on the arguable proposition that Congress would protect the Washington Metropolitan Region from such draconian penalties, or (ii) take action to get the underlying problems addressed.3 • There is risk in taking no action; environmentalist lawsuits have already enforced sanctions against a number of cities, including Atlanta where 43 highway projects were shut down.4 • There is risk in acting; it is politically risky for a Republican Administration to be the lead advocate for any change to the Clean Air Act. However, if Maryland elects to join in the lawsuit being filed by at least 12 eastern states in opposition to the New Source Review regulations that were recently published, environmentalists would have less standing to criticize our efforts to get relief from the unfair effects of the Clean Air Act. • As a national leader in providing its citizens numerous options to single occupant vehicles, Maryland is in a unique position to argue that we do not deserve to be subjected to such penalties, particularly with respect to our transportation system. 1 Some minor safety activities may be funded, but no project for which the funds have not been specifically obligated and authorized by USDOT can move forward. 2 MDE has shared with us a preliminary list of 87 businesses that would be affected. Large businesses such as Constellation Energy could face a “fee” of $57 million per year. J Several targeted legislative “fixes” are already being considered for this Session of Congress; unfortunately, none of these is likely to help us. 4 It should be noted, however, that unlike Atlanta, which passively allowed EPA to enter into a settlement agreement, Maryland, DC and Virginia have intervened as parties to the lawsuit and are responding aggressively. Presentation to Governor Ehrlich -1- September 3, 2003