Submitted by Maryland Freedom Caucus,
Today, President Trump is taking action to help reverse the damage done to Maryland's energy industry by directing federal support toward coal power infrastructure, including funding that could help restart Maryland's Warrior Run power plant near Cumberland.
While combining the Defense Production Act, a 1950 law that gives presidents emergency authority over national security-related industries, and Department of Energy grants, President Trump is expected to send tens of millions of dollars to reopen the recently closed AES Warrior Run.
Maryland's energy crisis was not an accident; it was a choice.
For years, Annapolis politicians and activists shut down reliable power, punished natural gas, forced unrealistic mandates onto families and businesses, and then acted shocked when electric bills exploded.
Warrior Run was not some meaningless facility on a government spreadsheet. It was a dependable, dispatchable power plant capable of producing more than 200 megawatts of electricity for Maryland homes, businesses, and communities. It was retired in 2024, even as Maryland's power supply was already shrinking and demand was rising.
That is exactly the kind of reckless energy policy the Maryland Freedom Caucus has been warning about for more than two years.
Our message has been simple: stop closing reliable power plants and restore in-state generation, cut fee-based programs like EmPOWER that drive up bills, ditch the Green Energy Scam, and classify nuclear power as a tier 1 renewable energy resource.
Maryland does not have an energy shortage because we lack resources. We have an energy shortage because politicians chose ideology over reliability. The reopening of a Democrat policy-closed power plant, like Warrior Run, is a huge win for Marylanders who need relief now. Lower electricity bills start with more power.
This is also a major opportunity for Western Maryland. Communities near Cumberland deserve jobs, investment, and energy production, not lectures from climate activists who never suffer the consequences of the policies they impose.
Maryland Democrats have spent years chasing climate mandates, forced electrification schemes, RGGI taxes, anti-natural-gas regulations, and hidden charges buried in utility bills. The result is exactly what basic economics predicted: less supply, more demand, higher prices, and a weaker grid.
Now Annapolis needs to build on this momentum. Maryland should roll back the Climate Solutions Now Act, leave the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), restore retail energy choice, protect natural gas, and expand in-state generation using every practical source available.
President Trump's action is another step toward lower bills, stronger reliability, and real Maryland energy freedom. It is also another Maryland Freedom Caucus win.
We have been right from the start.