Message from Pat Hawthorne and Mike Travieso

TCNA Co-Presidents

IMPORTANT NOTICE:

Dear Neighbors,

As many of you know from recent news reports, BGE has embarked on a multi-year project to install external gas regulators to more than 11,200 gas customers by 2031. Residents from eight community groups (including Federal Hill, Fells Point, Canton, and Pig Town) filed a complaint in Baltimore City Circuit Court aimed at stopping BGE from installing the gas regulators and turning off gas services to homeowners who have refused to let BGE install the equipment. The circuit judge who heard the case ordered BGE to temporarily halt the installation of the regulators and to restore gas service to residents whose service was cut off. A second hearing will be held on Monday, July 10th, at 2:00 p.m. at the Clarence Mitchell Courthouse, 100 W. Calvert Street. Since the initial complaint was filed, several more city communities have joined the consortium, Justice for Baltimore, opposing the installation of the regulators. Baltimore attorney Thiru Vignarajah is providing pro bono representation to individuals and communities who are opposed to the installation.

To date, we have not received official notice about when BGE would like to work in our area, but it’s important that we get as much information about what BGE is proposing to do and come up with a plan and recommendations for our TCNA neighbors who currently have gas service or who are considering installing it in the near future. We will be discussing the issue at the next TCNA Board Meeting on Wednesday, July 19th, 7:00-8:30 p.m. in the Lower Level Game Room at the Broadview. If you have concerns or want more information, please attend the meeting. Councilwoman Odette Ramos will be in attendance.

The concerns and objections of those groups who have joined Justice for Baltimore are that the regulators are unsightly and damaging to historic homes in particular. They also maintain that external regulators are not necessary for safety reasons and, in fact, may be more risky than ones installed on the interiors of homes. We have included a fact sheet put together by Justice for Baltimore and links to an affidavit and client agreement allowing representation by Mr. Vignarajah that can be submitted on-line by residents who wish to do so now. We are investigating whether TCNA should become a signatory or whether it should be left to individual homeowners.

Lastly, we encourage as many residents as possible to attend the hearing on the 10th. A courtroom packed with as many concerned citizens as possible will have a significant impact on the outcome of the case.

Thank you.

Pat Hawthorne Mike Travieso

Co-President, TCNA Co-President, TCNA

If you live any where in BGE’s service region, you can join the lawsuit to block BGE’s unlawful installation of external gas regulators. In order to participate click on the links below. The link is to complete a registration form AND sign the retainer letter. There is no cost to join the lawsuit to BGE, as former deputy attorney general Thiru Vignaarajah is providing legal service pro bono.

Monday, July 10, 2:00 Mitchell Courthouse, 100 N Calvert Street probably in room 434

8 Baltimore neighborhoods have already joined the lawsuit, and they encourage you to attend this hearing.

West Baltimore Residents Join Lawsuit against BGE

The Baltimore Banner

Clara Longo de Freitas

Published 7/5/202

Nine months before South and Southeast Baltimore residents took Baltimore Gas and Electric Co.to court, Adrienne Smith challenged the utility company over a gas regulator replacement project in Easterwood, her historically Black neighborhood.

“We found it very difficult to get a definitive answer to why it was needed,” Smith said, referring to external gas regulators. “Every neighbor was told a different story.”

Now, Smith and other residents of who live on North Smallwood Street are joining litigation filed on behalf of more than 120 plaintiffs, who say external gas pressure regulators BGE is trying to install on the outside of homes, rather than inside, are “neither required by state or federal law.”

Emily Scarr is the director of Maryland PIRG and co-author of a report on how to strengthen energy efficiency in Maryland.

BGE is spending $1.2 million a day on new gas lines and equipment replacement projects that will go on for decades.Customers may be saddled with costs that won’t be fully paid off until year 2100, according to LAPP.”

“As city residents who recently sued the company note, BGE argued to state lawmakers in 2020 that exterior gas service regulators aren’t always appropriate “in densely populated areas such as Baltimore City” and asked for amendments to relax the requirement that they be installed.”

Customers arrested protesting BGE gas equipment sue utility as work continues in Federal Hill