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The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the importance of strong and forward-thinking leadership at every level of government. States achieving success in managing the public health emergency can see their efforts threatened by external factors. A collective, comprehensive effort and a unified national push is critical to successfully addressing the crisis.
Unfortunately, the lack of a comprehensive and unified effort — where states and the federal government work together — isn’t exclusive to the pandemic. It’s also apparent in our federal government’s latest response to another global emergency — the climate crisis.
While many states across the country have been bright spots for climate action, a little-known but influential government agency, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, is threatening to reverse this progress.
FERC recently began implementing the Minimum Offer Price Rule, or MOPR, within our nation’s largest regional electricity market, the PJM Interconnection, which serves 65 million customers across the eastern United States – including Maryland. The MOPR will make zero-carbon sources of electricity appear less economically competitive and will prop up fossil fuels while raising consumers’ electricity bills. In fact, without state action, the MOPR could raise consumer costs in Maryland by $650 million to $950 million over the next nine years. FERC’s decision ignores the overwhelming economic, environmental and social evidence that fossil fuel pollution is detrimental to our day-to-day life, our air and water, and our communities.
