Senate give preliminary approval to O'Malley's wind power bill

Gov. Martin O'Malley's bill promoting offshore wind farms is moving through the state Senate, the chamber where it has died the past two years.

Senators gave preliminary approval to the bill Thursday afternoon after an hour and 40 minutes of debate. But more debate is expected and a final vote may not come until Monday.

The governor's bill, House Bill 226, requires a percentage of electricity sold in Maryland to come from wind farms off the coast of Ocean City.

The bill creates a steady revenue stream for energy producers. The average residential customer could see his utility bills spike about $1.50 a month. Commercial customers' bill would rise by 1.5 percent a month.

There are limits on what industrial and agricultural customers would pay.

Republicans oppose the bill.

Sen. Ed Reilly, R-Crofton, said bill supporters contend residential customers' costs would be capped at $1.50. "But that's not what this says," Reilly said, with a nonpartisan analysis of the bill in his hand.

The $1.50 average, he said, would apply to a customer who uses 1,000 kilowatt hours per month, and could go up or down, based on a variety of factors.

"It's not a maximum ceiling of $1.50," Reilly said.

Republicans also got the floor leader for the bill, Sen. Thomas Middleton, D-Charles, to concede that offshore wind power is the most expensive form of renewable energy.

Six GOP amendments to the bill were shot down.

They included requiring wind farm developers to post bonds, exempting Western Maryland residents from having to support the wind farms, and capping the maximum amount retail and commercial utility customers would have to pay.

The amendments were similar to ones previously defeated across the hall in the House of Delegates.

More amendments are expected to be offered when the Senate resumes debate on the bill. As Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr., D-Calvert, ended the day's debate, at least two senators indicated they had amendments ready.

Miller later told reporters that while the wind bill is important, it's not a pressing matter for the state Senate, so the chamber can take its time.

Miller prefers nuclear power. But he said: "Wind is the next best source that's available at this time."

Earlier this year, Miller shuffled the membership of the Senate's Finance Committee to make it more favorable for the wind power bill. Similar bills had died in the Finance Committee in the past two years.

Wind power advocates watched the proceedings. They said afterward they're optimistic they have enough votes for the bill to pass the Senate.