Go green, but not in our backyard

There was much talk by the administration about energy during the past legislative session and most of their legislative proposals became law last week. However the Governor missed a golden opportunity to "walk the walk" and not just "talk the talk" by issuing a ban on a wind turbine farms in State Forests in Western Maryland.

Granted the 40 story high turbines are an eyesore but one proposed site would not have been visible from Deep Creek Lake or other tourist areas. See location details.

The generation from the turbines would not have been enormous either but it would have been a step in the right direction since Maryland is facing a electricity generation crisis. Coal burning plants which make up the majority of generation in Maryland are "under a cloud" so no new coal plants will likely be built. Natural gas fired plants have been the industry's latest solution but fossil fuel plants are now very expensive to run, adding pressure to electricity prices. So any capacity we can add using wind, solar or other renewables should be carefully considered at this point.

Fostering competition is part of the answer to rising energy costs

If the legislature wants to do something about high energy prices then they should focus on increasing competition and reducing barriers (such as high corporate tax rates) to businesses. One concrete way to do this is repeal the divorcement laws (mentioned below).

How about some creative thinking like establishing a consumer energy web portal (as California did)with efficiency information, contact info for local energy companies,
state programs for alternative energy, all in one place and setup by
web professionals so the site is easy to use?

Helping consumers shop around is also a key component to reducing energy costs. Today, I reduced my fuel oil bill by 12% or $148 dollars for the rest of the winter by calling various Oil companies in the area
to compare prices. The cheapest I found ($2.88/gal for No. 2 Heating Oil) today was with Griffith Energy Services and tell them I sent you!