Four student activists were charged with criminal trespassing earlier this afternoon after it appeared offshore wind energy legislation would fail to pass the state’s General Assembly for the second year in a row. The legislative session ends at midnight.
The Maryland Student Climate Coalition held “Maryland Wind Works” signs and sat a top the steps of the statehouse as a “last stand,” said state campus organizer for the Chesapeake Climate Action Network Megan Jenny. The bill, HB441: Maryland Offshore Wind Energy Act of 2012, would encourage developers to create more green forms of energy by utilizing offshore wind farms.
Jenny said student activists in the state worked tirelessly, netting 4,000 petition signatures and staging demonstrations in Annapolis in support of the measure, only for it to likely fail tonight.
“Nothing that we have been able to accomplish has made a difference,” she said. “This is a last stand for wind energy.”
