The Clean Energy Jobs Act is a consequential piece of legislation that will shape the future of Maryland and the rest of the country. On March 14, the Senate Finance Committee approved the bill on an 8-3 vote.

A week before, US Wind Country Manager Salvo Vitale delivered a testimony urging the House and Senate committee members to support the twin bills that comprise the Clean Energy Jobs Act, citing the “transformational legislation would serve to reassert Maryland’s leadership position in the fast-developing offshore wind energy sector underway in the United States, creating an additional 5,000-7,000 direct jobs; an additional $18 million to be deposited in the Offshore Wind Business Development Fund; approximately $5 billion in new capital expenditures; and thousands of tons more of carbon emissions reduced or avoided altogether.”

The Baltimore Sun cites the bill requiring that half of Maryland’s electricity must come from renewable sources by 2030. The current goal is 25 percent renewable energy by 2025. In addition, the bill also sets up a study to evaluate how to eventually get the state to 100 percent renewable energy.

In an opinion piece for the same publication, Michael DeLong of Silver Spring voiced his enthusiasm for the result, and further notes “Maryland delegates should follow in the footsteps of their Senate colleagues and pass the Clean Energy Jobs Act. Our community, state, and country deserve no less.”

More Marylanders continue to get behind the bill, including the Frederick Friends Meeting, a Quaker congregation, writing, “The bill rightly provides workforce training and development for currently underrepresented groups. In its strong commitment to the gradual elimination of fossil-fuel-generated electricity, the bill has the potential to improve the respiratory health of hundreds of our state’s residents. It also addresses a significant environmental injustice that low-income and otherwise disadvantaged groups have long faced, namely, the siting of air-polluting power plants in their communities.”

Local youth from all across the state also staged a protest outside the Maryland State House to “to call attention to climate change and push for policy change.”

Its passing is now more pressing than ever. According to a new analysis by the Maryland D.C. Delaware Virginia Solar Energy Industries Association (MDV-SEIA), “Maryland could lose out on approximately $247 million in federal tax credits between 2019 and 2022 if the passage of the proposed Maryland Clean Energy Jobs Act (CEJA) is delayed by one year.”