Maryland has made significant strides in air quality over the last several years. New restrictions on emissions from power plants and cars should also help reduce the amount of greenhouse gases pumped into the atmosphere. Overall, the state has done well in the fight against excess carbon and global warming; too bad the federal government hasn't.
But there's also a danger that rash decisions made in response to this complex problem can have unintended and potentially harmful consequences. State officials must balance long-term concerns with short-term economic realities.
Such is the case with legislation pending before the General Assembly that aims to achieve a 90 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Exactly how Maryland would meet the goal is not spelled out in the bill. Instead, regulators would be expected to slowly tighten the screws through incremental reductions year after year as new technologies and carbon-reduction strategies evolve.
Setting a long-term goal is not a bad thing. It reflects a measure of planning that government rarely achieves - and private industry ought to embrace. And the threat of global warming is very real. Like it or not, the need to control carbon emissions is all too clear.
But legislators need to be aware of what could happen if they end up setting a high standard while competitors are not. One of the more troubling of these is gauging the impact the law might have on critically important efforts to secure a buyer for the Sparrows Point steel mill.
At stake are 2,400 well-paying, mostly blue-collar jobs that would be difficult to replace. There's concern that suitors may be put off by Maryland's proposal. Steelmaking produces plenty of carbon, after all, and the economics of domestic steel are iffy enough.
Environmentalists say the industry will eventually have to reduce emissions anyway. That may be the case, but the legislation's timing couldn't be worse. With the unraveling of the sale to Esmark Inc., ArcelorMittal's divestiture of Sparrows Point has proved difficult enough already.
We don't doubt that Maryland needs to set tough standards on carbon - if only because so much shoreline is vulnerable to a rising Atlantic Ocean. But we would also urge caution. The nation is poised to make a course correction on carbon next year when a new Congress and president are in place. State legislators need not act hastily, particularly given the changing political landscape.