Governor Martin O'Malley Announces Over $50 Million in Federal Energy Investments for Maryland
ANNAPOLIS, MD (August 14, 2009) –In the midst of some of the highest temperatures of the year thus far, Governor Martin O’Malley and the Maryland Energy Administration announced today the State’s most recent plans to leverage federal funding through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) for new and expanded energy programs to serve Marylanders, advance clean energy in our State, and help lower the utility bills of Maryland consumers. Under the ARRA, Maryland will receive over $51 million from the U.S. Department of Energy to invest in State Energy Programs that will directly help residents and create green collar jobs.
The Maryland Energy Administration will use the funds to help retrofit low and moderate income family homes, provide energy grants for homes, and provide low interest loans for energy improvements in residential and commercial facilities. Recovery Act funding will also support educational and workforce training efforts that will help familiarize the state’s workforce with important sustainable energy approaches. Specifically, Maryland will help fund training programs focused on the construction and building industries, including planning and building code officials, architects, engineers, and other stakeholders.
“Through the State Energy Program funding available today, we are creating over 560 new green collar jobs for our workers and are able to expand energy programs to continue our commitment of putting Maryland families first,” said Governor O’Malley. “Maryland has emerged as a national leader in smart, green, and growing initiatives, and this exciting announcement today furthers our unified commitment to sustainability as One Maryland.”
Last week, the State announced plans to include Government House in a larger energy efficiency effort to install upgrades at 37 buildings over the next year. The State will begin installing solar panels on Government House this week. Other upgrades include more efficient lighting and temperature controls, and are part of a broader project to save energy at state-operated buildings.
“This announcement is exactly what the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act is all about – creating and sustaining jobs today and preparing for the jobs of tomorrow,” U.S. Senator Barbara A . Mikulski said. “Replacing imported oil with alternative energy sources that we produce here at home is critical to America’s national security and to America’s economy. Energy investments like this one will create new good-paying jobs in cities and towns across America. The investments we make now will pay dividends in the years to come by helping Marylanders reduce their monthly energy bills and accelerate our nation’s transition to a more sustainable and secure energy future.”
By leveraging federal, state, and private investments, this funding will save Maryland families and businesses over $370 million on energy costs over the life of the investments and reduce CO2 emissions by over 2,000,000 tons, which is equivalent to taking nearly 360,000 cars off the road.
“The State Energy Program funding will help Maryland reduce its dependence on foreign energy while also reducing carbon emissions,” said Senator Benjamin Cardin, a member of the Environment and Public Works Committee. “It also will help create new jobs and enable Maryland families and businesses to achieve real energy savings.”
For this fiscal year, largely funded by the State Energy Program announced today, the Maryland Energy Administration will provide energy retrofits for more than 2,750 low and moderate income families, issue renewable energy grants to an estimated 1,700 Marylanders for solar, wind and geothermal systems at their homes, and jumpstart a new low interest loan energy makeover program for all residential and commercial customers. Together with programs for green collar job training, commercial and industrial energy retrofits, alternative transportation fuels, and commercial scale renewables, these investments will save each year 70,000 MWh of electricity, produce over 20,000 MWh of renewable energy and displace 2.4 million gallons of conventional gasoline.
“With new State Energy Program funding available today, Maryland will continue to lead the way in advancing clean energy,” said Rep. Steny Hoyer. “This funding will reduce energy costs for Maryland families and small businesses, and it will create the clean energy jobs of the future.”
“Maryland is consistently a leader in clean energy and energy efficiency policies and programs,” remarked MEA Director Malcolm Woolf. “With the additional State Energy Program funding, our new programs and expanded existing energy programs will put more Marylanders to work through the creation of green collar jobs and help us meet the O’Malley-Brown Administration’s aggressive EmPOWER Maryland energy efficiency, renewable energy and climate goals. This truly is an exciting time to be a part of our One Maryland.”
These states and territories are receiving 40 percent of their total State Energy Program funding authorized under the Recovery Act today. They will now have received 50 percent of their total Recovery Act State Energy Program funding. The initial ten percent of total funding was previously available to states to support planning activities. The remaining 50 percent of funds will be released once they meet reporting, oversight, and accountability milestones required by the Recovery Act.
Maryland is awarded $20,708,880 today, and will receive an additional $26 million upon demonstrating successful implementation of its plan.
Earlier this year, Governor O’Malley announced a plan to move Maryland forward toward the goal of creating 100,000 green collar jobs in Maryland by 2015. These goals will be additionally supported by President Obama’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. For clean energy alone, Maryland will receive $61 million for weatherization, $52 million to help local authorities with energy efficiency improvements, and $51.8 million which will support an array of State clean energy initiatives, including solar and geothermal grants and home energy retrofits to help Maryland families save on their energy bills.
In the past two years, the O’Malley-Brown Administration has set some of the most ambitious goals in America for reducing energy consumption 15 percent by 2015, partly by raising the state’s renewable portfolio standard and leading the charge for America’s first ever cap-and-trade auction of greenhouse gases. In addition, the O’Malley-Brown Administration has passed landmark clean cars legislation, created incentives to help homeowners and businesses utilize green energy, and this past session, passed legislation which set ambitious goals for reducing our carbon footprint by reducing greenhouse gases 25 percent by 2020.
For more information on the Clean Energy Programs in Maryland, visit www.Energy.Maryland.Gov.
