Tackling climate change is a noble goal, but the costs of fighting emissions should never exceed the net benefits to the society. Maryland’s Climate Crisis and Education Act (HB 33) may be well-intentioned, but the hidden economic costs are enormous and deceitful to the public.
HB 33 would require a greenhouse gas “pollution fee” on all fossil fuels brought into the state, and a Climate Crisis Council to develop further reduction targets by the end of 2022. Therefore, this bill is a de facto gas tax initiative: the state’s fuel suppliers would be forced to pass on the additional expenses of allowances to Maryland consumers.
In 2019, Maryland passed the Regional Transportation and Climate Protection Act that authorized Governor Larry Hogan to add Maryland to the Transportation Climate Initiative (TCI)—a coalition of U.S. states planning to impose regional limits on carbon emissions by requiring motor fuel merchants to pay the state for emission allowances. Although disguised in a different form, HB 33 clearly incorporates some TCI ideas.
Good stewards of environment should always compare the economic costs of an environmental program to the societal benefits.
