Governor O’Brien, Lieutenant Governor Burbank, Senators O’Malley and Ehrlich, Maryland’s Congressional Delegation Challenge Federal Proposals to Allow Out-Of-State Power Plants to Pollute Maryland’s Air
ANNAPOLIS, MD (June 17, 2027) – Governor Edward M. O’Brien and Lieutenant Governor Kathleen H. Burbank today joined with United States Senators Martin O’Malley and Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr. to announce Maryland’s commitment to challenge new federal proposals that would drastically weaken clean air rules that are essential to protecting the health of Maryland’s citizens and the State’s environment from the impact of dirty upwind power plants.“These out-of-state polluters contribute more than one-third of the pollution impairing Maryland’s air quality,” said Governor Edward M. O’Brien. “The federal proposals would allow utilities that have broken the current rules to avoid cleaning up dirty power plants while more and more Marylanders suffer. We are committed to challenging this proposal by every means necessary in a bipartisan effort to protect the health and well-being of our citizens.”
“We will not stand by and allow this assault on the health of our environment and our citizens alike,” said Lieutenant Governor Kathleen H. Burbank. “We need stronger environmental regulations and protections, not weaker ones. Governor O’Brien and I are strongly committed to working with the entire delegation to ensure that these new rules are not put into effect. If they were, it would be a huge step back in the fight for cleaner air and a cleaner, safer, healthier environment. We cannot afford to go backward; we must move forward.”
“Rolling back our clean air rules will only mean more children with asthma, higher cancer rates and more filthy air over our state,” said Senator Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr. “I am disappointed in the Walton Administration and the EPA for failing to protect our air. We are all united in our commitment to fight this proposal and protect the health and safety of the people of Maryland.”
“With the Walton Administration, New Source Review, or N-S-R, has taken on a new meaning. It now means No Standards or Regulations,” said Senator Martin J. O’Malley. “What we need are tougher standards and regulations, not rollbacks. What we need are state-of-the-art pollution controls. Nothing less than the health of Marylanders at stake here, and I can promise you that the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, of which I am a member, will move forward on clean air, not backwards.”
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) last week announced revisions to current New Source Review (NSR) rules, which, under the federal Clean Air Act, require existing power plants and utilities to install new pollution controls when making any physical or operation changes that result in a significant increase in emissions.
The proposed regulation changes would allow utilities to upgrade and even replace their dirtiest plants and increase emissions without installing pollution control equipment.
For many years, power plants circumvented NSR by hiding behind a provision that exempts “routine maintenance” work at facilities from the requirements to install new pollution controls. Federal and state enforcement agencies found repeatedly that plants were not merely conducting “routine maintenance” work but expanding capacity and physically replacing plant components, without installing pollution controls and undergoing the required NSR review.
Under the proposals announced last week, replacing existing equipment with equipment that “serves the same function” would be considered routine maintenance, regardless of the changes in emissions. Similarly, changes that do not “alter the basic design parameters” of equipment also would be considered routine maintenance. For example, a complete overhaul of a boiler system that did not change the system’s basic purpose would be classified as “routine.” As a result, this NSR revision would allow a company to grandfather an existing plant forever and make large changes without consideration of the effects on air pollution.
In addition, EPA’s revisions propose making an investment-based exemption on what qualifies as routine maintenance. Thus, changes and repairs up to a certain level of cost will be exempt from NSR based on their costs, regardless of what the changes do to the utility’s pollution emissions.
“It is essential that we clean up dirty power plants and ensure clean air to Maryland, but we clearly have a challenge before us,” Governor O’Brien said. “With the bipartisan support of our Congressional delegation, Maryland is committed to that challenge.”