Maryland is proposing to ban fossil fuel burning equipment in buildings (e.g., furnaces, boilers, water heaters, clothing dryers, etc.) with two new programs, a Clean Heat Standard and Zero-Emission Heating Equipment Standard.

Flying in the face of what is being done elsewhere across the country and contrary to the stated aims of the new U.S. presidential administration, the Maryland Department of the Environment has released the two standards banning “small fuel-burning equipment” in buildings with the justification that “no existing policy requires emissions to reduce fast enough to achieve the state’s climate goals.”

What are these standards?

Opposite to and defying that the Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975 as amended regulates the energy use of such appliances and expressly and broadly preempts state and local laws on that subject; and further disregarding Maryland state law where the legislature has not authorized either standard by statute, the new standards are based only on the weak reed of a Maryland Governor Executive Order Mandates Climate Action, where some weeks ago the Governor directed, MDE shall:

1. Propose a zero-emission heating equipment standard regulation that will phase-in zero-emissions standards for heating equipment to reduce carbon pollution and improve air quality inside homes and the ambient air;
2. Propose a clean heat standard regulation to expand Maryland’s Renewable Portfolio Standard to the thermal energy system, mobilizing investment in clean heat solutions for homes and businesses.

Federal and state law challenges

MDE readily admits by describing the standards as designed to reduce carbon pollution and “improve air quality inside homes and the ambient air,” the government is pivoting from a justification of only addressing climate change to indoor health, hoping to avoid federal preemption. But there is no doubt these standards are designed to and will have the effect of banning not only natural gas, but also propane, heating oil, and all fossil fuels; and as such invalid and void consistent with recent federal appellate court decisions.

The details of these standards are yet to be known. With no legislative authority, MDE has only released PowerPoint slides and held webinars, including soliciting ideas, making it difficult to respond to what is to come. In their webinars, the bureaucrats have discussed how unsafe natural gas is in buildings saying that “2 people died” in Maryland last year by gas explosions, however, they fail to mention at least 5 Marylanders died by electrocution last year (.. but they are not banning electricity in buildings?).

These ‘good’ policy ideas apparently originate from Maryland bureaucrats coming together with a coterie of other government types, as a regional nonprofit association of state air quality and climate agencies in the Northeast, as the Northeast States for Coordinated Air Use Management, and produced a model rule. But no other state has adopted what is proposed here; Maryland will be the first. And yes, again, the Maryland legislature did not enable any of this.

Without digressing into a long litany detailing why these standards are wrongheaded, it should not be lost on anyone that just last Friday, the US EPA proposed tighter limits on nitrogen oxides (.. the very elements that Maryland seeks to regulate here) from fossil fueled fired turbines at power plants and industrial facilities; maybe creating another preemption problem for Maryland, but substantively, those sources being the correct place to efficaciously improve air quality nationwide, and not in the homes of Marylanders.

The actual written standards were obtained by Maryland from “an independent global organization,” the Regulatory Assistance Project, associated in this instance with the ClimateWorks Foundation. That model rule is the best resource available today as to what the MDE is proposing.

Economic and practical implications

Maryland is proposing two entirely new government programs beginning with creating “obligated parties” (i.e., sellers of natural gas, heating oil, propane, etc.) who must report fossil fuel sales (.. something that is already done but in a different format), then reducing greenhouse gas emissions, followed by mandatory participation in an entirely new “clean heat credit” market (.. think, a local carbon credit trading scheme) the purpose of which is to drive the replacement of customer existing appliances with zero emission heating equipment (e.g., electric heat pumps, heat pump water heaters, etc.).

So, this fuel burning equipment ban is to support an also entirely new multi Billion dollar government tax on fossil fuel that is “the” definition of regressive taking a larger percentage of income from low income Marylanders. That is, at a time when Maryland’s real GDP per capita has grown only 2.1% since 2016, compared to 11.9% for the U.S., and lawmakers were just advised the state is facing a $2.7 Billion budget deficit, how is any modicum of equity or “energy justice” going to be funded?

These two new standards are apparently to be layered on top of and in addition to the Maryland’s Building Energy Performance Standards (BEPS) which applies to large buildings, so these apply not only to all buildings not subject to BEPS (from single family residences to schools and more ..) but also to BEPS covered buildings.

A jaundiced view

MDE staff says that these standards are intended to drive appliance manufacturers to produce zero emission compliant equipment to be sold in Maryland, ignoring that is exactly the coercive behavior the federal EPAC preempts. However, making it illegal to sell fossil fuel equipment in Maryland, staff suggest the enforcement mechanism will be to criminalize the installation of equipment (even appliances purchased by a homeowner across state lines) by plumbers, electricians, and other skilled tradesmen.

These unachievable standards designed to aid in the transition away from politically disfavored industries ignore that the real problem is that Maryland consumes about 40% more electricity than it generates. As we recently blogged, Maryland needs to produce more electricity and not mandate all electric buildings, exacerbating the short supply of power in the State that is getting worse.

A better path forward

By sidestepping the legislature, Marylanders are left with these standards drafted by United Nations associated international groups and advanced by unelected bureaucrats that are wrongheaded and will not even begin to repair the world, in lieu of any consideration of other alternatives, like simply increasing existing incentives to replace fossil fuel appliances at the end of their lifecycle with more energy efficient models.

In the name of combating climate change, the Maryland government is driving policies to create an artificial energy scarcity that will require billions of dollars in new expense, supported with taxpayer and ratepayer subsidies, to address a “problem” that the bureaucrats themselves created.

The subject of these not yet available clean heat standards is admittedly complex, but nearly all will agree Maryland should not be the only state combatting climate change by criminalizing the behavior of the plumber installing a gas hot water heater in your home.
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Join us for the next in our “carbon based life forms” webinar series, “Administration Change Drives Environmental Change” on Tuesday, December 17 from 9 – 9:30 am. The webinar is complimentary, but you must register here.