Governor Moore allocates $90M from Strategic Energy Investment Fund into climate related projects - Tri-State Alert
Governor Moore allocates $90M from Strategic Energy Investment Fund into climate related projects - Tri-State Alert
16 February 2024- Governor Wes Moore today announced $90 million to support the Moore-Miller Administration’s climate agenda. The previously unallocated funding from the Strategic Energy Investment Fund (SEIF) will be placed in the Moore-Miller Administration’s FY2025 budget proposal as one-time funding to advance implementation of the Climate Solutions Now Act and the Maryland Department of Environment’s Climate Plan, which together will help make Maryland more competitive.
“Climate justice is economic justice – and we are here to ensure that the clean energy transition brings everyone along, and not just some,” said Gov. Moore. “I’m very clear about the fact that $90 million won’t solve our climate challenges in Maryland but today, we make an important down-payment on a more sustainable future — a future where the air is cleaner, where our energy grid is more resilient, and where power is drawn from nature, instead of being in conflict with it. This is the Maryland we’re building and we are going to build it in partnership with the Maryland General Assembly, advocates, and community leaders.”
At least 50 percent of the funding will help uplift communities that have been historically overburdened and underserved and will be put toward three initiatives:
- $17 million for grants to purchase and lease electric school buses to serve Maryland public school students;
- $23 million for grants to install electric vehicle charging infrastructure in low and moderate income communities; and
- $50 million for grants to electrify hospitals, schools, multi-family housing, and other community buildings.
Several speakers joined Governor Moore during today’s press conference, including Maryland Department of Environment Secretary Serena McIlwain; Maryland Energy Administration Director Paul Pinsky; Maryland House of Delegates Speaker Pro Tem Dana Stein; Chief Sustainability Officer Meghan Conklin; Maryland League of Conservation Voters Executive Director Kim Coble; and Green & Healthy Homes Initiative President and Chief Executive Officer Ruth Ann Norton. Members of the Maryland General Assembly and more than 60 elected leaders, environmental advocates and community leaders joined in the audience.
Related Knowledge Center: Climate economics
Climate change is now a driver of the world’s economy. The impact is profound:
- Catastrophic weather events — hurricanes, floods, droughts, high temperatures — are more frequent and more extreme. The cost can be measured in both the initial damage caused and the longer-term impact on the economy.
- Vulnerable communities are increasing climate-related investments, hardening infrastructure and taking other protective measures.
- Investment in carbon capture and storage technologies is increasingly rapidly.
- Governments are making investments and crafting regulations to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.
On top of all of this is the cost of uncertainty. As the Fourth National Climate Assessment, released in 2018 by the U.S. Global Change Research Program, says, “The assumption that current and future climate conditions will resemble the recent past is no longer valid.”