Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative Too Expensive For Virginia, According To Youngkin Report

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5:06 PM

Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative Too Expensive For Virginia, According To Youngkin Report

Jacob Fenston | https://twitter.com/JacobFenston

For less than the price of a small, monthly Starbucks latte for each residential power customer, the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative promises to cut emissions from power plants by 30% over the next decade, putting the Commonwealth on track to meet its zero-carbon goals by 2045. Additionally, the proceeds go towards mitigating flooding and other impacts of global warming in Virginia.

That might sound like a bargain, if you’re looking to invest in a planet with a “livable and sustainable future for all,” in the words of the U.N. climate panel. ... But a new report from Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s Department of Environmental Quality argues that the cost to consumers isn’t worth it. The report also questions whether RGGI (pronounced “Reggie”) will really lead to reduced emissions, dismissing as insignificant the reductions already made in the first year of Virginia’s participation in the program.

“Participation in RGGI is in effect a direct carbon tax on all households and businesses,” reads the report, which Youngkin requested in a first-day-in-office executive order. “RGGI is a bad construct that taxes consumers without providing incentives for change to the electricity producers.”

RGGI was created more than a decade ago as a collaborative effort among East Coast states to cut carbon pollution from power plants in the region. After years of back-and-forth among lawmakers, Virginia joined the initiative on Jan. 1, 2021. ... In participating RGGI states, emissions have dropped by 50% since the program’s inception, according to program administrators — twice the national rate of emissions reductions.



Emissions from power plants in Virginia have remained flat over the past decade, even as coal is phased out for cleaner sources.
Virginia DEQ

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