Gov. Glenn Youngkin is throwing shade at the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative with a taxpayer-funded sham report. Environmental advocates are calling bullshit.
“Gov. Youngkin continues to play partisan games instead of addressing serious issues here in Virginia. It’s clear that in doing the bidding of the fossil fuel industry and big polluters, Youngkin and his coal lobbyist advisor Andrew Wheeler are out of touch with voters in the Commonwealth, who by wide margins, recognize the impact climate change is having on our day-to-day lives and support efforts to address this crisis, including our membership in RGGI,” said Michael Town, executive director of the Virginia League of Conservation Voters.
Youngkin, on Tuesday, released a report that he had his Department of Environmental Quality produce in accordance with an executive order that he issued to examine the impact of RGGI and start the process of getting Virginia out of the initiative.
No surprise, his DEQ followed his instructions, using your tax dollars to do so, of course.
“This report reveals that RGGI is in reality a carbon tax passed on to families, individuals and businesses throughout the Commonwealth – it’s a bad deal for Virginians,” Youngkin said. “Hardworking Virginians are having to do more with less as inflation steals a historic amount from their paychecks and the failed Biden administration energy policies are costing Virginians more at the pump and in their homes.
“We’re working every day to cut energy taxes and reduce costs – like the RGGI carbon tax – and make Virginia the best place to live, work and do business,” Youngkin said.
But according to Nate Benforado, a senior attorney in the Charlottesville office of the Southern Environmental Law Center, the data in the report demonstrates that RGGI is, in fact, good for Virginia.
The reports shows, Benforado said, that over the last decade, Virginia’s emissions “remained fairly constant” while RGGI states saw their emissions drop by 30 percent, and acknowledges that Virginia will not hit the 2045 net-zero carbon emissions goal without an emissions reduction program.
“The conclusions in this report really don’t match the data. While the governor attempts to brush aside the need for RGGI, the report actually confirms the need for RGGI,” Benforado said. “The report appears designed to support a partisan repeal effort rather than to provide an objective look at available information. In the past, the agency has taken the stance that cap and trade programs like RGGI are a proven, cost-effective way to reduce carbon pollution.
“If Gov. Youngkin is concerned about Dominion being better incentivized to reduce its emissions, let’s work on that. But repealing RGGI doesn’t fix the long-standing problem of Dominion overcharging its customers, not just for RGGI compliance but for many projects,” Benforado said. “Repealing RGGI only helps monopoly utilities and the fossil fuel industry go back to polluting the Commonwealth’s air without having to take into account the tremendous costs greenhouse gases have on Virginians.”
According to data from the Acadia Center, RGGI states have generated $4.7 billion from the sale of emissions allowances, the majority of which has been invested in energy efficiency and renewable energy programs. Consumers have also benefited: electricity prices in RGGI states have fallen by 5.7 percent, as prices have increased in the rest of the country by 8.6 percent, and participating states have seen billions of dollars of public health benefits.
Due to the program’s success, there are 57 national or subnational carbon pricing programs in place, many of them drawing on lessons learned from RGGI.
“This program works, and is already producing tangible results for Virginians, by protecting vulnerable communities from climate change-driven flooding and sea level rise, and by helping reduce energy burdens for our most vulnerable citizens, all while cutting harmful pollution that threatens our health and puts us at even more risk. If Youngkin wants to continue playing games with climate action and environment protection, he does so at the disservice of each and every Virginian that calls this state home,” Town said.
Story by Chris Graham
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