On April 9, 2012, three students risked arrest on the steps of the Maryland Statehouse. The students sat down on the steps and held up three Wind Works for Maryland lawn signs, protesting the failure of the state senate to pass the Maryland Offshore Wind Energy Act.
The group’s leader, Johanna Galat stated, “I had some concerns about being arrested. But then I asked myself: if not now and if not this, then when and what is worth it? Nothing is more important than our future.”
“As a costal state, Maryland simply must be a leader in clean energy legislation,” Galat continued, “We’ve seen climate disasters from snowpocalypse to Irene, I find it deeply disappointing that the senate won’t do their small part to abate such disasters.”
The Maryland Offshore Wind Energy Act would help create a 200-megawatt wind farm ten nautical miles off the Eastern shore of Maryland, and create over 1000 manufacturing and construction jobs. Sam Rivers, from UMD College Park, and Ashok Chandwaney from St. Mary’s College of Maryland joined Galat in the protest.
[mappress]
Offshore WIND staff, April 10, 2012