The Art of the Steal: How the Green Graft Works
By: James Simpson | Capital Research Center

The Chicago-based Exelon Corp. was planning a merger with Maryland’s Constellation Energy. To obtain approval for the merger, Exelon agreed to pay the state $1 billion. Credit: Taylor McKnight. License: Shutterstock.
The Greatest Heist in World History
How the Green Graft Works: One Example
The state of Maryland had a unique opportunity to fix Chesapeake Bay pollution in 2011—supposedly the big concern among Maryland’s elite—but instead, it squandered the chance by focusing on pet ideological projects and/or wasteful boondoggles for then-Governor Martin O’Malley’s political pals. The Chicago-based Exelon Corp. was planning a merger with Maryland’s Constellation Energy. Exelon owns the 100-year-old Conowingo Dam, which needs dredging. Every time a big storm comes along, the Dam spills massive amounts of sediment and nutrients into the bay, smothering the oyster beds, now almost nonexistent in the upper bay. The Conowingo is the greatest single source of Bay pollution, dwarfing all others.
To obtain approval for the merger, Exelon agreed to pay the state $1 billion. No analysis of merger benefits or costs, just a big payoff. If O’Malley were truly interested in the environment, he would have demanded Exelon spent some of the $1 billion cleaning up the Conowingo. But none, zero, was requested to address the sedimentation problem. Instead, O’Malley showered that $1 billion on green projects that, just like Obama’s program, guaranteed lots of green for the governor’s friends, but saddled Marylanders with expensive, unsustainable, green energy.
My favorite was $89–$157 million for a new powerplant fueled by chicken excrement. The idea was a favorite of O’Malley buddy and Attorney General Doug Gansler. As of 2021, when Gansler geared up for a second run for governor, he was still talking about it, but that’s all it was: talk. What happened to the money?