William "Billy" Reid foR Delegate ON
Environmental Justice
Climate change has disrupted and damaged multiple aspects of our lives. We’ve experienced its impact on property, livelihood, and health, from extreme weather events like storms and wildfires that have destroyed homes and businesses, to increases in respiratory illnesses. We need a fundamental change in how we deal with issues pertaining to climate and environmental justice. I will fight for those changes on behalf of Marylanders, with a specific focus on:
- Protecting the Chesapeake Bay: Protect our waterways outside the “Bay Watershed” including our local rivers and streams.
- Supporting the Climate Solutions Now Act: Sets emissions reduction targets for the state, provides for the planting of new trees, and helps Maryland take a step in the right direction on climate change.
- Supporting Smarter Growth: Manage urban sprawl and help lead a reorientation of our transportation priorities to make way for cleaner forms of transit.
- Increasing Regenerative Land Management Practices: Introduce new and innovative farming practices that protect our soils and drawdown greenhouse gasses from our atmosphere.
- Increasing Green Space: Push for more parks, green space, and a clean environment.
- Supporting the 2030 Greenhouse Gas Reduction Act Plan and HB 298: HB 298 will require the Public Service Commission to consider the climate effects and emissions in its regulation of gas, electric, telephone, water, and sewage disposal companies. When evaluating electricity generation, HB 298 requires that a project’s impacts on greenhouse gas emissions are consistent with the state’s reduction goals; this means cutting emissions by nearly 50% from 2006 levels in the next nine years, and reaching net-zero emissions by 2045 as outlined in the 2030 Greenhouse Gas Reduction Act Plan.