On February 6, Director of Intergovernmental Affairs Dominic Butchko submitted a letter of information to the Economic Matters Committee on HB 398 – Abundant Affordable Clean Energy – Procurement and Development (AACE Act).
This bill sets new goals and targets for increasing Maryland’s energy storage capacity.
Counties have no position on the underlying fundamentals on HB 398, but urge the committee to consider safety and livability factors as they deliberate the future of energy storage in Maryland.
Counties urge that as the committee deliberates on the exact pathway to increase energy storage, legislators consider the hazards of current technologies and require sufficient safety requirements. Lithium-ion battery fires can be several orders of magnitude more destructive than a traditional fire, and add the additional complication of voluminous toxic fumes. Many county career and volunteer fire departments are not yet equipped or trained to handle a worst-case scenario fire for electric vehicles, let alone for a large utility scale fire in a neighborhood.
HB 398’s cross-file, SB 316, was heard on February 13 in the Senate Education, Energy, and the Environment Committee. Dominic Butchko submitted a letter of information to the Committee.
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