Pennsylvania’s Environmental Quality Board Accepts Clean Air Council’s Carbon Cap-and-Trade Petition

 

In a historic decision, Pennsylvania moves one step closer to carbon neutrality.

HARRISBURG, PA (April 16, 2019)  This morning in Harrisburg, in a decisive vote, Pennsylvania’s Environmental Quality Board (EQB) accepted Clean Air Council’s carbon cap-and-trade rulemaking petition for further study.  The vote, under 25 Pa. Code Chapter 23, allows the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to substantively analyze the Council’s proposal and requires DEP to issue a report on its estimated impacts and benefits. The rulemaking petition is supported by nearly 200 individuals, businesses, municipalities and faith-based, educational, environmental, health, and community organizations across Pennsylvania.  If adopted, the Council’s cap-and-trade program would bring Pennsylvania to carbon neutrality by 2052 by using a market-based approach to pollution control. Pennsylvania is currently the third-worst state for greenhouse gas pollution in the country and its emissions are globally significant.

Clean Air Council’s Joseph Otis Minott, Executive Director and Chief Counsel, issued the following statement:

“Today’s EQB vote was historic.  By accepting our rulemaking petition for a carbon cap-and-trade program, EQB has taken a meaningful step forward in Pennsylvania’s plan to mitigate climate change.  The science is clear and overwhelming: our climate is already changing, and we need to aggressively and deliberately reduce greenhouse gas emissions to avoid the worst impacts.  Earlier this year, Governor Wolf ambitiously set the first-ever statewide goal to reduce carbon pollution, and the Council’s rulemaking petition is the only concrete policy on the table that will achieve that goal.  As we celebrate today’s progress, we look forward to working with state agencies and stakeholders across Pennsylvania as this landmark process moves ahead.”

The cap-and-trade program is a market-based approach to controlling greenhouse gas pollution across all sectors of the economy by providing financial incentives for achieving carbon emissions reductions. This proposed program will generate significant annual revenue for the Commonwealth and make Pennsylvania a leader in both climate solutions and technological innovation.  EQB has the authority to establish this program, and DEP has the authority to administer it.