Maryland Freedom Caucus calls for rollbacks on green energy policy: ‘It isn't working'

Yahoo

14-02-2025

BALTIMORE — The Maryland Freedom Caucus railed against the cost of previously passed green energy legislation Thursday afternoon and called for repeals as utility bills for ratepayers continue to climb.
'The reckless green agenda sounds like a great idea, except that it isn't working,' Del. Mark Fisher, a Calvert County Republican, said at an Annapolis press conference. 'The green agenda won't provide the people of Maryland enough power to generate our economy.'
U.S. Rep. Andy Harris and the Maryland House Freedom Caucus are demanding that Gov. Wes Moore and the Democratic majority legislature roll back climate change and energy efficiency policy, which they say will 'immediately' lower utility bills.
Del. Kathy Szeliga, a representative of Baltimore County, said that she has heard from constituents who are forced to choose between keeping their lights on or paying for food because their bills are so high.
'What we're hearing from the other side are some puffy, long-term solutions,' Szeliga said. 'We have yet to hear one thing that will lower residents' electric bills immediately. We have a solution for that.'
Del. Brian Chisholm of Anne Arundel County is sponsoring House Bill 1451, which would alter provisions of the Climate Solutions Now Act of 2022 to read 'to the extent economically practicable.'
'In layman's terms, it means if it's going to bankrupt you, you don't have to do it,' he said.
The Climate Solutions Now Act requires the state to reduce its emissions by 60% below 2006 levels by 2031 and to make the state carbon neutral by 2045. It also requires owners of large buildings to take steps to significantly reduce or offset the use of fossil fuels by 2030. Republicans have criticized the policy, saying their constituents will shoulder most of the cost of upgrading energy systems.
Though the House Freedom Caucus represents just a sliver of the 39 Republicans elected to the Maryland House of Delegates, members of the minority party in both chambers have decried the Democratic desire to move away from coal and oil.
'We're not saying solar and wind are bad,' Fisher said. 'We're saying that they don't provide sufficient power, and we shouldn't be using taxpayer money for that purpose.'
Chisholm's bill would also repeal the EmPOWER Maryland Program, a utility-customer-funded program established by the legislature in 2008 to increase energy efficiency and lower utility costs by using less energy.
Funded by a surcharge on ratepayer energy bills, EmPOWER provides appliance rebates, home weatherization, combined heat and power programs and other energy efficiency measures administered through Maryland's largest utility companies and the state Department of Housing and Community Development.
To lower the strain on Marylanders' wallets, the General Assembly passed legislation last year prohibiting utility companies from deferring program costs that eventually cause their customers to pay interest.
Chisholm called the EmPOWER Program a 'slush fund.' St. Mary's County representative Del. Matt Morgan estimated that its repeal could reduce utility bills for average ratepayers by around $40 monthly.
Emily Scarr, a senior advisor at the Baltimore-based public interest nonprofit Maryland PIRG, said that Republican attacks on EmPOWER are 'misguided at best.'
'The key factors driving up people's heating bills this winter are overspending by gas utilities on new infrastructure and volatile gas prices, not the state's successful energy efficiency program,' she said.
According to Maryland PIRG, the EmPOWER program reduced electrical use by 15% by 2015 and saved ratepayers $4 billion by 2024.
In their work with Harris, the small cohort of conservatives has also requested that the federal government intervene.
Earlier this week, the Maryland Freedom Caucus sent a letter to U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Chris Wright, asking him to prevent the closure of two Maryland power plants — one coal-burning and the other fueled by oil.
'The consequences of these closures cannot be overstated,' they wrote. 'Maryland residents are already struggling under high energy costs, and further reductions in in-state generation will push electricity prices even higher.'
For his part, Harris said that the U.S. House majority party is planning to roll back significant portions of the Green New Deal in the budget resolution it intends to present ahead of the March 14 deadline to prevent a government shutdown.
In their response to utility rate hikes and Maryland's reliance on energy from other states, General Assembly Democrats are sponsoring a package of comprehensive green energy bills.
Maryland is on an energy grid run by PJM, which it shares with 12 other states and Washington, D.C.
PJM recently predicted that the region could see an energy capacity shortage as early as June 2026. Currently, 40% of Maryland's electricity is generated by out-of-state sources.
The bills, sponsored by Senate President Bill Ferguson, House Speaker Adrienne A. Jones and other legislative leadership members, seek to reduce the need to build additional transmission lines and allow the state to determine which sources — like natural gas, nuclear, solar or other generation — its energy comes from.
Climate advocates are frustrated that the bills leave the door open for the potential of new gas power plants in Maryland.
'Maryland ratepayers should not be on the hook to subsidize gas plants that will have a negative impact on their health and worsen our vulnerability to the climate crisis,' Carlo Sanchez, the chair of the Maryland chapter of the Sierra Club, said in a statement Wednesday. 'Gas plants take years to build, and therefore wouldn't provide any ratepayer relief anytime soon.'
Ferguson said Tuesday that he is 'frustrated' that the state is in a place where that has to be an option but sees it as a bridge to cleaner sources.
'I've really dug into the energy bill crisis that we are now facing,' he said. 'It's become clear to me that the demand is going to continue to increase and supply is not keeping up for energy that's here. If we could do it fully renewable — if we could do it just through batteries — I would be all for it.'
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