Pennsylvania To Join Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative

Annapolis MD

27 April, 2022

4:07 PM

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By Ad Crable, the Chesapeake Bay Journal Apr 22, 2022 After more than 2 years in legal and legislative battles, Pennsylvania is poised to become the twelfth state to join the carbon-cutting effort known as the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. A Commonwealth Court failed to block the state's publishing of final regulations on April 23, clearing the way for Pennsylvania's hotly contested membership in the program. The energy-intense state, which produces about 4% of the nation's greenhouse gas emissions, would give RGGI more clout in fighting climate change. Gov. Tom Wolf, who began his pursuit to join RGGI in a 2019 executive order, sees the compact as the best way for the state to address a changing climate that he says is already dramatically affecting businesses and people's health. However, a number of legal and legislative roadblocks remain. With Wolf in office for only another eight months, it's uncertain how far the process will get. RGGI began in 2009 among mid-Atlantic and New England states as a means of reducing greenhouse gases that cause global warming and contribute to extreme weather. States that join the initiative agree to require a cap-and-trade system for power plants that emit carbon dioxide from coal, oil and natural gas. The cap is reduced each year to reduce overall carbon emissions. Power plants pay for and trade allowances of carbon emissions. Hundreds of millions of dollars are raised through the sale of emissions allowances at regional auctions. States use the money for energy efficiency programs and to encourage renewable energy sources such as wind, solar and nuclear. Pennsylvania power plants will have to start tracking their carbon emissions beginning July 1 and purchase carbon credits in the RGGI auction in September. "Today, we are already experiencing the effects of climate change and those impacts are only going to get worse. Our children and their children are going to look back at our decisions and, by participating in RGGI, we have begun to set Pennsylvania on the path toward addressing this threat," said Patrick McDonnell, secretary of the state Department of Environmental Protection. Pennsylvania's estimates say up to 225 million tons of carbon pollution from Pennsylvania power plants would be reduced by 2030. That's approaching the 269 million tons that power plants emitted collectively in 2018. A reduction of that size could prevent up to 30,000 hospitalizations for respiratory illnesses, according to DEP. And revenue from the emissions auctions will pump nearly $2 billion into the state economy, with a net increase of 30,000 jobs by 2030, the agency said. Environmental groups celebrated the state's move to join RGGI. The Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania called it "an historic step forward in addressing our climate crisis and building a 21stcentury green economy." PennFuture's president Jacquelyn Bonomo said, "This cap-and-invest program will deeply cut into Pennsylvania's pollution by limiting what comes from our dirtiest power plants." But several hurdles remain. Legal challenges are pending from Republican state legislators who maintain that Wolf exceeded his authority in pursuit of RGGI membership. The emissions penalty amounts to a new tax that must be approved by the legislature, they maintain. There also are Republican-led bills in the works to prevent Pennsylvania from joining RGGI. Legislators have twice voted to block participation but failed to override Wolf's vetoes of their resolutions. At a Pennsylvania Senate hearing on RGGI in March, Republican senators cited a report from the Independent Fiscal Office that found that recent RGGI auction prices had been 3.8 times higher that forecast. That will mean the costs will likely be passed on to state ratepayers, the senators said, making heating and cooling bills intolerable. RGGI, said Sen. John Yudichak, "will devastate the Pennsylvania energy industry, dramatically increase energy costs and fan inflation and overwhelm family budgets." Small businesses would be devastated by RGGI, opponents said. "RGGI will exacerbate the rising costs of doing business. This is a cattle prod rather than a carrot and stick to reduce climate change," said Melissa Morgan of the National Federation of Independent Businesses. However, economists from Penn State and the University of Virginia have predicted that the high auction prices will be temporary and the state's competitive energy market will not burden ratepayers in the long run. Senators also argued that carbon emissions have dropped significantly in Pennsylvania in recent years without RGGI, though RGGI advocates countered that was because of COVID. "RGGI will pave the way for energy efficiency gains for businesses," said Democratic Sen. Amanda Cappalletti. Among states in the Chesapeake Bay drainage area, Virginia, New York, Maryland and Delaware are already in RGGI, though Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin has tried — so far unsuccessfully — to withdraw the state. He maintains the participation has not reduced emissions but has saddled Virginia ratepayers with unnecessarily high bills. The Chesapeake Bay Journal is a nonprofit news organization covering environmental issues in the Bay region. Sign up for a free subscription at BayJournal.com.