Carbon Dioxide from Coal Erodes Acres of Bay Coast

BALTIMORE (AP) - Carbon dioxide pouring out of the smokestacks of Maryland's coal-fired power plants contributes to global warming and sea level rise that washes away 260 acres of coastal land around the Chesapeake Bay each year, an environmental group said in a report released yesterday.

To emphasize the dangers of rising sea levels, the Maryland Public Interest Research Group, a nonprofit advocacy organization, conducted a news conference with other organizations in Baltimore's waterfront Fells Point neighborhood, which suffered severe flooding during Tropical Storm Isabel in 2003.

"Climate change is going to be our primary public health threat this century," said Dr. Cindy Parker, an instructor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. "The sea is expected to rise up to 3 feet over the next 100 years, and growing storm surges are a big concern, as we saw with Isabel's damage."

While the federal government and the Ehrlich administration have not taken action against global warming, the Maryland legislature should act in the session that opens next month by passing a bill that would reduce carbon dioxide emissions by at least 10 percent by 2018, said Jennifer Bevan-Dangel, staff attorney for MaryPIRG.

"Maryland should be embarrassed that while our neighboring states are moving forward to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, we are standing on the sidelines," said Bevan-Dangel, referring to a coalition of seven states from Maine to Delaware that this month pledged to reduce global warming gases by 10 percent.

Bevan-Dangel said Maryland would find it "easy" to achieve this goal, by fining power plants that exceed this cap and creating financial incentives for businesses and homes to switch to more energy-efficient buildings and appliances.

The Ehrlich administration and the power industry have opposed limits on carbon dioxide, arguing that they might drive electricity prices up and force the closure of coal-fired power plants and perhaps cause blackouts. Record profits of power companies in Maryland and elsewhere have led some environmentalists to question these dire predictions.

Rob Gould, spokesman for Constellation Energy, which owns 10 power plants in Maryland and may soon be acquired by a Florida power company, said no filters or other known pollution-control technology can remove carbon dioxide gas from the emissions of coal-fired power plants.

"The only alternative would be switching from coal to natural gas, and with that, a higher price comes along with it," Gould said.

Information from: The Sun

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