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DEP briefs council on energy trends; data-center bills and renewable policy flagged
Summary
The Department of Environmental Protection warned the council that rising utility costs are driven by transmission constraints, data-center demand and delayed PJM approvals; staff flagged multiple state bills on transmission planning, utility ownership of power plants, renewable portfolio compliance, and data centers and said they will return with recommendations where local action or comment would be useful.
Garrett Fitzgerald of the Department of Environmental Protection and Brian Howard, the department's new state energy and climate policy manager, briefed the council on state energy legislation and local implications. Fitzgerald said multiple forces'transmission costs, new data centers, PJM delays and utility infrastructure spending'are increasing utility bills for county ratepayers.
DEP staff described about 80 energy-related bills filed this session. Themes include potential changes to Empower Maryland energy-efficiency incentives, efforts to improve transmission planning, proposals that would allow utilities to build and rate-base power plants (which DEP staff opposed on consumer-protection grounds), and a set of bills addressing data-center siting and taxation treatment. Staff said it appears unlikely that sweeping state restrictions on data centers will pass this year, but several bills could affect planning, taxation authority, or procedural requirements that local governments and the county planning office should monitor.
Council members asked DEP to return with bill numbers and options where county positions would be appropriate, including an item flagged as allowing counties to tax data-center personal property differently and proposals that could alter local environmental review or public-process steps for associated generating capacity. DEP said it is monitoring those bills and will follow up as language evolves.
