Governor Larry Hogan

100 State Circle

Annapolis, Maryland 21401

October 19, 2017

Dear Governor Hogan,

We, the undersigned Senators and Delegates, urge you not to implement President Trump's
weakened water pollution standards in Maryland. We write to express our strong opposition
to your plan for the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) to renew expired wa-
ter pollution permits for three coal-fired plants in Maryland that would allow continued
dumping of excessive amounts of toxic pollutants into the Potomac and Patuxent Rivers,
which flow into the Chesapeake.

The standards in the federal water pollution permits that MDE proposes to renew at coal
plants in Dickerson, Chalk Point and Morgantown are 35 years old. The Environmental Pro-
tection Agency (EPA) under President Obama spent about six years investigating the impact
of toxic discharges from power plants into waterways and issued new requirements in 2015
for the Clean Water Act. Unfortunately, President Trumps EPA halted the improved re-
quirements in April of this year.

Coal-fired power plants are the number one source of toxic water pollution in the country.
The toxic pollutants being discharged -- which include arsenic, lead, mercury and selenium --
can cause severe health and environmental problems in the form of cancer, lowered IQ
among children, deformities and reproductive harm in fish and wildlife, and other disorders
for our residents including heart, nervous system, kidney, liver and stomach problems. Many
of these pollutants, once in the environment, remain there for years.

There are simple and affordable ways for coal plants to reduce or eliminate their toxic waste,
and many coal plants across the country have already done so. But for the change in the
Presidency, Maryland's plants would have been required to make similar changes to reduce
excessive amounts of cancer-causing toxins from flowing unchecked into our waterways.

We call on you do whats right for our citizens, our environment and our natural resources:
require coal plants in Maryland to adopt the toxic coal waste requirements that EPA issued in
2015.

Sincerely,
 SENATORS

Joanne Benson Paul Pinsky

Jim Brochin Barbara Robinson
Brian Feldman Jim Rosapepe
Bill Ferguson Will Smith
Susan Lee Ron Young
Rich Madaleno Craig Zucker

DELEGATES

Vanessa Atterbeary Eric Luedtke

Erek Barron Maggie McIntosh
Kumar Barve Aruna Miller
Ben Brooks David Moon
Al Carr Marice Morales
Bonnie Cullison Dan Morhaim
Kathleen Dumais Nick Mosby
Diana Fennell Joseline Pena-Melnyk
David Fraser-Hidalgo Andrew Platt
Tawanna Gaines Susie Proctor
Angela Gibson Pam Queen
Jim Gilchrist Kirill Reznik
Cheryl Glenn Shane Robinson
Shelly Hettleman Sandy Rosenberg
Terri Hill Ana Sol Gutierrez
Sheila Hixson Carlo Sanchez
Jay Jalisi Ted Sophocleus
Anne Kaiser Dana Stein
Ariana Kelly Charles Sydnor
Marc Korman Jimmy Tarlau
Ben Kramer Frank Turner
Clarence Lam Geraldine Valentino-Smith
Jazz Lewis Jeff Waldstreicher
Robbyn Lewis Alonzo Washington
Karen Lewis-Young Mary Washington
Brooke Lierman Jheanelle Wilkins

cc: Benjamin Grumbles, Secretary of the Environment