Video: You Asked, O'Malley Answered (Part 1)

EDITOR'S NOTE: This video is the first of four we are posting before the Nov. 2 General Election. Both Democratic Gov. Martin O'Malley and his Republican rival, Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., agreed to sit down to answer questions from Patch readers, but Ehrlich had to cancel. That's why the quality of the two videos differs. We did our best to reschedule with Ehrlich but ultimately had to settle for a less intimate setting.  

The first question we asked came from Matt Dernoga of College Park. Dernoga's question: "Are you supportive of wind power off the coast of Maryland and what steps will you take over the next four years to make it a reality? If not, why not?"

The second question came from Arlene Bruhn of Bethesda. Bruhn's question: "How do you plan to pay for the state's portion of the Purple Line, Red Line and Corridor Cities Transitway if the federal government accepts the projects?"

In between, O'Malley talked about a number of issues. We checked the facts on his comments. 

Claim: "There was … an announcement by a Maryland company, Trans-Elect, [that is] supported [and] invested in by Google, that is going to be laying the cable infrastructure under water that will allow these winds farms, when they're sited, to tie into it."

FACT: True. Bethesda-based Trans-Elect Development Co. will lead the backbone transmission project for the Atlantic Wind Connection. The project, which is designed to accelerate offshore wind development, is sponsored by Good Energies, Google and Marubeni Corp.

Claim: "We've also made a number of other strides forward, one of which was the convening of a group by [U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken] Salazar of about 10 governors on the east coast. In essence, his charge to us was this: he said 'our best resource on this part of our country where there's so much population is the offshore wind and if we all try to do this individually as states, we'll never get there. But if we can join forces together, and your federal government, I commit to you will do a hurry up offense to de-conflict our laws and also determine what areas are ideal for the wind and de-conflict with the defense department and other entities that use some of those off-shore areas, the Air Force and other people as well, we could very well accelerate the development of off-shore wind and see it in a shorter term future.'"

FACT: True. Salazar, O'Malley and the governors of Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Virginia and North Carolina signed a memorandum of understanding on June 8 that established an Atlantic Offshore Wind Energy Consortium to facilitate the growth of wind resources on the Outer Continental Shelf.

Claim: "I have hired a person, one person in the governor's office, whose job is to be all over advancing the many moving parts for this offshore wind."

FACT: True. Abigail Hopper is O'Malley energy advisor. 

Claim: "There are 4,000 jobs that could be created servicing offshore wind."

FACT: True. A proposed one gigawatt wind farm in the waters off the Delmarva coast could create 4,000 manufacturing and constructions jobs, according to the Maryland Energy Administration. The jobs would be created during the five-year development period.

Claim: "We do now have a renewable portfolio standard that is one of the highest in the country, to hit a renewable energy portfolio of 20 percent of our energy usage coming from renewables by 2022. The only way we get there is offshore wind."

FACT: True. A Maryland Energy Administration document from March said that Maryland's renewable portfolio standard requires electricity suppliers to get 20 percent of their total electricity from renewable sources by 2022.

Claim: "The second goal is reducing energy consumption by 15 percent by 2015."

FACT: True. O'Malley's EmPOWER Maryland initiative aims to reduce per capita electricity consumption statewide by 15 percent by 2015.

Claim: The third important thing we've done was to pass the climate change bill, and other states are modeling theirs on ours.

FACT: True. The Greenhouse Gas Reduction Act of 2009 requires the state to reduce statewide greenhouse gas emissions 25 percent from 2006 levels by 2020.

Claim: "We already have set aside $90 million in our capital transportation plan to do the preliminary engineering and design."

FACT: True. $90 million was set aside for the Red Line project in Baltimore, which would be a 14-mile transit line connecting parts of Woodlawn, Edmonson Village in West Baltimore, downtown Baltimore, Inner Harbor East, Fells Point, Canton and the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center Campus; and for the Purple Line project in the Washington, D.C., area, which would run between New Carrollton and Bethesda.

Claim: "We've done some big projects on roads, the ICC of late, which is about to open, the first leg of it, and also the widening of 95."

FACT: True. The ICC's first segment is set to open by the end of this year or early in 2011, administration officials told WTOP.