Progress and Progress(ive)…. two words with somewhat similar spelling but with entirely different meanings. I asked Grok to help identify the distinctions. Progress... a forward movement, advancement, or improvement over time. It's about actual results or the process of getting better. Progressive…..favoring or promoting reform, change, and new ideas (especially social or political change), happening gradually or in stages…..supporting “progress’ as an ideology.
There may be no better way to illuminate the difference between the two than with energy policies in the State of Maryland. There is not much disagreement that electricity prices are rapidly increasing but there isn’t much agreement as to the causes. Maryland residential electricity rates have risen 50.9% in the past five years. Maryland Governor Wes Moore, as well as other blue state governors, place blame for rising electricity prices on utility profiteering and their ‘double dipping’ on energy infrastructure projects. He blames the PJM grid operator and data centers “as the largest single driver of capacity prices “. The Maryland legislature, in an attempt to slow the rate of increases, has even capped the compensation for utility executives. To give citizens relief, state officials passed the Utility Relief Act which will rebate $150 towards the cost of electricity (which essentially gives the people back their own tax dollars).
Increasing demand for electricity, and including from Data Centers, is indeed causing a power shortage and rising electricity prices. But are there other important factors that some politicians are conveniently failing to consider, such as state government regulations that are contributing to the shortage of reliable power supply? What about the impact on supply from decarbonization policies designed combat climate change and the push for an all-electric economy, requiring electric cars, electric buildings, and electric heating. Maryland passed the Climate Solutions Now Act of 2022 mandates a 60% reduction in state greenhouse gas emissions from 2006 levels by 2031 and net-zero emissions by 2045. Other legislation requires all electric heating in larger buildings.
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