Burdening the state with higher natural gas prices

Marylanders enjoy affordable energy prices but that is about to change if the Climate Crisis and Environmental Justice Act of 2024 (House Bill 516) is passed and lawmakers enact a classic bait-and-switch that will unduly tax the more than 43% of Marylanders who rely on natural gas for cooking and heating to pay for others’ electricity (“Climate change must be on top of the General Assembly agenda this year,” Jan. 9).

Although it is presented as a way to create more money to support low-income customers and others — important goals — it is actually going to punish some low-income customers at the expense of others because of the energy source they use.

This is especially important for Maryland’s Black families and the state’s Black middle class, the largest in the nation. Black Americans pay 43% more for energy than the average U.S. household and are three times more likely to be disconnected.

House Bill 516 would hurt the families least able to afford higher utility costs and then add what amounts to a new tax that will slow the growth of the middle class.

This bill would tax even low-income natural gas customers but not those who use electricity only. Imagine being a family struggling with poverty and seeing your natural gas bill go up. Low-income Marylanders have the fewest choices about where they live and what generates their electricity or heating. If that is not inequitable, I do not know what is.

— Gary Baxter, Southlake, Texas

The writer is a former cornerback for the Baltimore Ravens and founder of the Energy and Poverty Awareness Center.