ANNAPOLIS, Maryland — Maryland’s climate targets are slipping out of reach, state officials and lawmakers say.
A $3 billion budget deficit, rising electricity costs, spiking electricity demand and a bottleneck in bringing new power sources online have emerged as major challenges to the state’s climate ambitions.
That dynamic promises to get harder after the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump, who has promised to slash renewable energy subsidies and end offshore wind development — major elements of decarbonization in this densely populated state, which imports about 40 percent of its electricity and has relatively little open space for onshore wind or utility-scale solar projects.
The combination has Maryland grappling with whether it can keep on the lights, regardless of where the power comes from.
