In many ways, Maryland climate advocates felt “blindsided” by the 2025 legislative session, says Kim Coble, leader of the state chapter of the League of Conservation Voters.
Spurred by calls and emails from constituents complaining of high power bills, legislative leaders determined that increasing in-state energy generation was the solution, passing proposals to bolster solar panels and battery storage technology. But they also opened the door for expedited permitting of a new natural gas-fired power plant in Maryland — even though it would likely place the state’s ambitious climate commitments out of reach.
And in October — in response to the legislature’s new energy law — Constellation Energy proposed just that.
“When we would say: ‘How does this match with our climate goals?’” Coble said, “the response you’d get back is: ‘We have to generate more energy.’”
With the 2026 session approaching, climate groups say they are ready for round two. They’re preparing to push hard for bills that will advance solar energy and batteries amid Trump administration attacks that will end key subsidies for renewables in 2026.
And they’re better prepared to play defense, opposing new natural gas generation, and any efforts to mine environmental and energy funds to close another intimidating budget shortfall.
“Climate is going to make a comeback this year in Maryland,” said Brittany Baker, Maryland director at the Chesapeake Climate Action Network.
Climate promises a ‘heavy lift’
But at least one leading lawmaker, Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City) said during a December interview that new natural gas remains on the table.
“We have options that include renewables and natural gas,” Ferguson said. “I think we have to have a really challenging conversation this session about the balance between the aggressiveness of our climate policies and the affordability for everyday Marylanders — and there’s a balance in between.”
Current law requires the state, in just five years, to have reduced its greenhouse gas emissions 60% from 2006 levels. And nine years from now, Gov. Wes Moore (D) has pledged that the state will use 100% clean energy.
State studies have shown that the two goals are going to be a challenge. A January 2025 report from the Maryland Energy Administration labeled Moore’s clean energy goal “incredibly difficult.” One potential roadmap included a massive 185% increase in nuclear power, along with big increases in solar, onshore and offshore wind.
Paul Pinsky, recently retired director of the Energy Administration, and the architect of the state’s climate mandates, said that both goals will be “a heavy lift.”
“There’s been some retreat, and that’s a problem,” Pinsky said. “We’ve got five years, and we have a fairly significant way to go. So I’m not sure: Are we going to put our shoulders on the grindstone and push forward, or will the government backtrack?”
Part of the problem, Pinsky said, is that no legislators back then expected power demand to rise so precipitously — largely because no one predicted the role of data centers and artificial intelligence.
“We didn’t think or talk about data centers,” said Pinsky, who represented Prince George’s County in the General Assembly for decades before taking over the Energy Administration. “It was not on our radar screen.”
If Pinsky knew then what he knows now, the Climate Solutions Now Act might have looked a bit different, he said.
“I would have said that any data center coming into the state has to bring additional energy, at a minimum — and maybe requiring clean energy,” Pinsky said.
Preventing a solar energy ‘valley of death’
Climate advocates plan to take advantage of the moment to promote renewables in Maryland, especially solar and storage, as Maryland’s offshore wind projects face an unabating assault from the White House.
“Our message to the General Assembly is: You wanted to see what all of the proposals would look like. Now you’re looking at them,” said Josh Tulkin, executive director of the Maryland chapter of the Sierra Club. “And we think that there’s a strong case that the clean energy and energy efficiency and battery storage options are providing the opportunities that Maryland needs.”
Perhaps aiding advocates’ argument is the fact that Constellation CEO Joe Dominguez has admitted the company’s proposal for a new gas plant in Harford County would be expensive — and likely require state assistance. Getting gas to the site could cost north of $800 million, he told a gathering of legislators in November. The company also offered a battery storage proposal for the expedited consideration before the Public Service Commission.
“We need to kind of make some decisions. We could be a state that has its own natural gas-fired generation, or we can continue to be a state that builds transmission lines in from Pennsylvania,” Dominguez said in November. “The way I feel, I think natural gas ought to be a part of this.”
It’s clear, said Del. Lorig Charkoudian (D-Montgomery), that gas couldn’t be built in Maryland “without some kind of state support.” But that money is better spent elsewhere, she said.
“Let’s figure out what additional supports are needed, and let’s use that to double down on renewables that are also good for our air, our land, our water and our climate,” she said.
Charkoudian said she is working on a bill that would direct funds that Maryland already collects from energy suppliers (and, by extension, ratepayers) and direct it to the winning bidders in a competitive procurement for new solar energy projects.
Currently, those funds — a specific type of “alternative compliance payments” — go into the Strategic Energy Investment Fund, which energy suppliers pay into when they do not meet the state’s renewable energy requirements. There, the funds can be deployed for a variety of uses, including solar projects but also energy efficiency upgrades for low-income households, EV chargers and more.
“Now, we’re taking that money and building solar with it,” Charkoudian said.
Evan Vaughan, executive director of MAREC Action, formerly the Mid-Atlantic Renewable Energy Coalition, said his members, which include solar developers and panel manufacturers, support the delegate’s proposal.
“These projects can come online faster than just about anything else,” he said. “But this is partially to prevent there from being a valley of death for the solar industry with the federal tax incentives going away.”
Del. David Fraser-Hidalgo (D-Montgomery) said he is focusing on minimizing “soft costs” for solar developers, particularly given that federal tax credits are set to lapse next summer, after President Donald Trump (R) signed the “One Big Beautiful Bill” into law.
“Every project just went up 30%, with the loss of that federal tax credit, which is concerning,” Fraser-Hidalgo said. “We don’t want to lose the solar industry in Maryland.”