By Zenitha Prince,
Special to the AFRO
Heat waves. Floods. Surprise blizzards. Wildfires.
Such extreme weather conditions have become almost commonplace bulletins on the nightly news. And with their growing frequency and intensity – driven by climate change – taxpayers are laboring under the increasingly heavy burden of “hidden extreme-weather taxes” as states seek to recover, climate advocates said.
But a new bill introduced in the Maryland General Assembly seeks to shift that financial burden where activists believe it belongs–fossil fuel companies.
The Responding to Emergency Needs from Extreme Weather (RENEW) Act (HB1438 / SB0958) would require the 40 largest polluters in Maryland to pay $9 billion in compensation for the ravages of climate change.
“We are in a time where we are contending with record breaking heat, storms and wildfires of a magnitude never seen before. The RENEW Act proposes a bold solution and ensures the biggest polluters pay their fair share to prepare for and recover from escalating natural disasters,” said bill co-sponsor Del. Adrian A. Boafo, D-Pr. George’s. He added, “I learned at a young age a very simple lesson — if you make a mess, you clean it up. It’s time for Big Oil companies to clean up their mess and pay their fair share.”
A statewide Gonzales poll commissioned by the Chesapeake Climate Action Network (CCAN) found that two-thirds of respondents supported making the key emitters of greenhouse gases pay for the state’s efforts to prepare for and recover from the effects of environmental degradation.
“Marylanders support the RENEW Act overwhelmingly because we are experiencing the costs of climate change first hand. The RENEW Act makes Maryland a cleaner, more resilient, and more affordable state to live in,” said Maryland State Sen. Katie Hester (D- Howard and Montgomery). Hester’s district includes Ellicott City, where a multimillion mitigation effort, including a massive drainage tunnel, is underway after being devastated by floods in 2016 and 2018.
Now climate advocates are calling for Gov. Wes Moore to throw his support behind the RENEW Act, saying the bill’s expected revenue of $900 million a year for 10 years could help finance his administration’s robust Climate Pollution Reduction Plan.
“To keep hidden extreme-weather taxes from going through the roof, Maryland must pass the RENEW Act,” said Jamie DeMarco, Maryland director of the CCAN Action Fund, in a statement. “Every year that we allow industry polluters to avoid paying for the harm they’ve done is another year Maryland taxpayers will be left on the hook for the rising costs of climate disasters.”
Gov. Moore has committed to investing $1 billion a year toward addressing climate change, and has already outlined how he would invest $90 million in 2024, alone.
Under the Climate Solutions Now Act (CSNA), passed into law in 2022, Maryland is required to reduce statewide greenhouse gas emissions 60 percent from 2006 levels by 2031 and achieve net-zero emissions by 2045, the most ambitious GHG reduction goals of any state in the nation.
