A Maryland State Senator today unveiled a bill that would quantify the economic harm inflicted on Maryland by this winter’s weird weather and prepare the state for future storms related to climate change. The bill is considered the first legislative proposal of its kind from a state hit hard by the “snowmaggedon” storms this year along the east coast.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 2, 2010

Record Snow Storms Prompt Maryland Bill to Prepare for Emergencies Fueled by Climate Change

ANNAPOLIS, MD (March 2, 2010)-A Maryland State Senator today unveiled a bill that would quantify the economic harm inflicted on Maryland by this winter’s weird weather and prepare the state for future storms related to climate change. The bill is considered the first legislative proposal of its kind from a state hit hard by the “snowmaggedon” storms this year along the east coast.

The legislation, introduced by Senator Jim Rosapepe (D-College Park), requires the Maryland Commission on Climate Change, in cooperation with the Department of Transportation and the Maryland Emergency Management Agency, to submit a joint report to the governor and the General Assembly that will identify the economic and other costs to the residents of the state of severe weather experienced this winter. The report must also include a recommendation on investments that the State must make in order to prepare for future weather emergencies, including snow storms, hurricanes and other extreme weather conditions that occur as a result of climate change.

“Maryland’s weather has been totally unrecognizable this winter,” said CCAN director Mike Tidwell. “Of the ten heaviest snow storms ever recorded in Baltimore since 1870, three have occurred in the last ten weeks. So Senator Jim Rosapepe’s bill is very much a welcome step. With this bill we can begin to estimate the cost of this winter’s weird weather in Maryland, and begin to prepare for the dislocations scientists say we can expect with more climate change in the future.”

The bill asks the governor, based on the study, to request the President of the United States and the Maryland Congressional Delegation to fund additional needed emergency weather preparedness investments via federal cap and trade legislation, including H.R. 2454, the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009.

“Marylanders were rightly frustrated that roads, trains, and schools were closed much too long by the recent snow storms,” said Senator Rosapepe. “Since Maryland has taken a lead in the fight to slow climate change, it now needs to take the lead in protecting its citizens from the disruptions caused by related weather emergencies-and invest more in emergency preparedness from funds raised by the federal cap and trade plan.”

“More extreme weather is an imminent threat and a key symptom of climate change,” said Dr. Joseph Romm, Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress and author of Hell and High Water: Global Warming–the Solution and the Politics–and What We Should Do. “The longer we delay acting on climate change, the greater the impact extreme weather will have on us and the more expensive it will be to recover from storms like the ones we’ve just seen.”

Added Tidwell, “Snow records have been shattered throughout the region this year and our economy has suffered as a result. Meanwhile, credible scientific data shows that – because of the planet’s warming atmosphere and oceans – extreme precipitation events are increasing, including winter storms. We must fight climate change with clean-energy policies, but we must also be realistic about the impacts we’re already experiencing and will likely experience soon.”

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