AG Jones takes legal step to return Virginia to Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative

The science-denier Glenn Youngkin isn’t our governor anymore, so, Virginia could, soon, be back in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a compact involving several states in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast to reduce carbon emissions.

Attorney General Jay Jones, who replaced another science-denier, Jason Miyares, with his win in the November state elections, announced Friday that his office has taken legal action to pause an appeal in Virginia State Air Pollution Control Board, et al., v. Association of Energy Conservation Professionals.

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ICYMI

• Judge rules Youngkin move to pull Virginia out of RGGI was ‘unlawful’
• Floyd County court suspends earlier ruling against state in RGGI case

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The legal maneuver is the first step to reverse the effort by the Youngkin-Miyares administration to withdraw Virginia from RGGI, which Democrats and environmental groups have long contended was done illegally.

Virginia joined RGGI in 2021, after the General Assembly passed legislation in 2020 requiring the state’s participation in the multi-state pact.

Youngkin pulled the state out of RGGI on Dec. 31, 2023, after the Youngkin-majority Air Pollution Control Board had voted to repeal the regulation earlier in 2023.

A suit filed by a coalition of environmental groups asserts that the Air Pollution Control Board, DEQ, and its director do not have the authority to remove the state from RGGI, and that the Youngkin-Miyares administration didn’t support the decision with the evidence required by the Virginia Administrative Process Act.

A Floyd County Circuit Court judge ruled in 2024 that Youngkin’s effort to remove Virginia from RGGI was “unlawful and without effect,” finding that “the only body with the authority to repeal the RGGI Regulation would be the General Assembly. This is because a statute, the RGGI Act, requires the RGGI Regulation to exist.”

We’ve been mired in the appeals process since.

“Today, the Commonwealth reopened the door for participation in RGGI, which we know lowers costs for the most vulnerable Virginians while holding industries accountable to transition to cleaner, more stable, and more affordable sources of energy. I am proud to have taken steps to correct course and set the Commonwealth back on a path toward long-term affordability and resilience,” Jones said.