Youngkin effort to get Virginia out of RGGI takes another unfortunate step forward

Glenn Youngkin’s cronies on the State Air Pollution Board have taken another step toward getting the state out of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.

The board voted Wednesday to approve a proposed regulation that would allow Virginia to exit the RGGI, a multi-state pact enacted in 2009 that reduces pollution from power plants and expands efforts to develop and implement clean energy.

Virginia only entered the RGGI in 2021, under former Gov. Ralph Northam.

Youngkin issued an executive order after taking office this year requiring the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality to develop a regulation enabling the Commonwealth to bolt from the pact.

The State Air Pollution Board voted 4-1, with two abstentions, to approve the regulation, which will now be submitted for executive branch review, then will be published in the Virginia Register of Regulations with a 60-day public comment period.

“With the board’s decision to proceed to public comment, we are one step closer to exiting RGGI and bringing relief to ratepayers,” said Travis Voyles, the Acting Secretary of Natural and Historic Resources.

Critics of Youngkin’s push to exit the RGGI believe the effort is being done in violation of laws passed by the General Assembly in 2020 that reserve for the state legislature the power to decide the state’s future in the pact.

“Today, Gov. Youngkin’s vision for Virginia became abundantly clear: flooded streets, endangered communities, and more Virginians breathing dirtier air,” said Michael Town, executive director of the Virginia League of Conservation Voters. “When Youngkin’s rigged Air Board voted to move forward with his illegal push to single-handedly override Virginia law by taking Virginia out of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, they also voted to eliminate one of our best tools to cut pollution, to take vital resources away from communities battling dangerous flooding, and to defund programs that help low-income Virginians cut energy costs.

“At a time when we need to be doing everything we can to address climate change, which affects us all, this politically motivated repeal effort is not only misguided, it’s downright reckless,” Town said. “Youngkin has offered no plan to address climate change, no plan to address its current impacts on Virginia, and no plan to secure a clean energy future. Youngkin would be better-served using his time as governor to act in the best interest of all Virginians, instead of what’s best for his 2024 presidential campaign.”