A Floyd County Circuit Court judge ruled Wednesday that Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s effort to remove Virginia from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative was “unlawful and without effect.”
“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,” Judge C. Randall Lowe wrote, effectively overturning the move in 2023 by the Virginia State Air Pollution Control Board and the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality to remove the state from the RGGI.
Virginia had joined RGGI in 2021 under Youngkin’s predecessor, Ralph Northam, a Democrat, after the General Assembly passed a 2020 law to require the state’s participation in the pact.
Advocates point out that the carbon cap-and-invest program, in three years of implementation in Virginia, had brought nearly $830 million to the state to fund flood resiliency projects and energy efficiency programs for low-income Virginians, while also cutting power plant pollution by almost 25 percent.
Virginia dropped out of the RGGI on Dec. 31, 2023, after the Youngkin-majority Air Pollution Control Board had voted to repeal the regulation earlier in 2023.
The Southern Environmental Law Center filed a suit against the Youngkin administration on behalf of the Association of Energy Conservation Professionals.
Responding to the court decision, Billy Weitzenfeld, the former executive director of AECP, said the court ruling is a win for Virginia.
“All along we knew that the actions taken by the Air Board and DEQ were wrong. This is a win for communities across Virginia who have benefited from the state’s participation in RGGI in the past and those that now will have a chance to continue to see those benefits,” Weitzenfeld said.
SELC senior attorney Nate Benforado said “the Court confirmed that the Air Board, DEQ, and its director unlawfully removed Virginia from RGGI. The law requires RGGI and Virginians deserve RGGI. We hope that following the ruling, Virginia will get back into this statutorily required program as quickly as possible.”
Michael Town, the executive director of the Virginia League of Conservation Voters, said his group is ”incredibly pleased with this ruling and hope(s) to see Virginia rejoin RGGI as soon as possible.”
“Virginia’s membership in RGGI gave the Commonwealth a critical tool to combat the climate crisis, hold polluters accountable, protect communities against flooding and extreme weather, and lower household energy costs,” Town said. “The Youngkin administration’s illegal actions taking Virginia out of this program benefited no one except our state’s biggest polluters. The end result of this illegal rollback was dirtier air, more communities left exposed to floodwaters, and fewer tools to help Virginians cut energy costs.”
Environment Virginia Research & Policy Center State Director Elly Boehmer Wilson said the decision “affirms that power plants can’t pollute our air without consequences and defends a program that directly contributes to cleaner, healthier air and a more liveable future for all Virginians. RGGI has been one of Virginia’s best tools to slash the pollution that’s contributing to climate change and fund other solutions.
“RGGI has generated more than $827.7 million in revenue for energy efficiency and climate resiliency projects in Virginia from 2021 and 2023. This ruling means Virginia retains a critical tool to address one of the most pressing challenges of the 21st century,” Wilson said.
“We’re pleased with this decision,” said Matt Allenbaugh, Appalachian Voices Virginia Campaign Coordinator. “A significant portion of RGGI proceeds were allocated by the General Assembly to the Community Flood Preparedness Fund to help communities prepare for and prevent catastrophic flooding. Getting back into RGGI as quickly as possible will help communities across the state prepare for, and hopefully prevent, damaging flooding from the next storm.”
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Chris Graham
