CLEAN AIR COUNCIL FILES PETITION TO ESTABLISH A CAP-AND-TRADE PROGRAM IN PENNSYLVANIA

 

November 27, 2018 (Philadelphia, PA) – In an historic move, Clean Air Council, Robert B. McKinstry, Jr., the Widener University Commonwealth Law School Environmental Law and Sustainability Center, Professor John C. Dernbach, C. Baird Brown, and over fifty other businesses, organizations and individuals today submitted a petition for rulemaking to the Environmental Quality Board (EQB) to adopt a proposed regulation establishing an economy-wide auction-cap-and-trade program for Pennsylvania. That program represents a market-based approach to controlling greenhouse gas emissions and use of fossil fuel by providing economic incentives to do so. Because Pennsylvania’s greenhouse gas emissions are globally significant, the proposed regulation represents a landmark step in mitigating climate disruption.

Setting Precedents: Recent Pennsylvania Supreme Court Landmark Decisions

In June of 2017, in a momentous environmental decision, Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court made clear that all branches and levels of government in Pennsylvania are constitutionally bound to act as trustees over the Commonwealth’s public natural resources, preserving and protecting them for generations yet to come. Article I, Section 27 of the Pennsylvania Constitution guarantees the fundamental right to clean air, declares that the state’s natural resources are the common property of all people, and imposes a duty on the Commonwealth to act as a trustee. This requires the Commonwealth to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, which pose a threat to human health and the environment, to the point where they no longer cause harm.   

Article I, Section 27 requires Pennsylvania to take action and, given the sobering findings in the Fourth U.S. National Climate Assessment (released November 23), there is no time to waste. Auction cap-and-trade programs have been implemented successfully in other jurisdictions. Given the considerable authority and flexibility under the state’s Air Pollution Control Act (APCA), Pennsylvania has broad legal authority to enact the proposed regulation under existing law. The EQB petition process offers a clear path forward for such a regulation to be reviewed and adopted.

About Pennsylvania’s Greenhouse Gas Emissions

In 2014, Pennsylvania’s total emissions exceeded all but 21 countries of the world. The proposed regulation would establish a Pennsylvania program in which emissions from covered sources of greenhouse gas emissions would be capped. The cap declines each year by an amount equal to three percent of 2016 emissions, starting in 2018. This would put Pennsylvania on track to achieve carbon neutrality by 2052, consistent with the goal established by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, as further defined in the Paris Agreement.

“Last year, Governor Wolf strongly urged President Trump to remain committed to the Paris Agreement and said reducing greenhouse gas emissions gave the Pennsylvania energy industry the opportunity to create new jobs,” said Joseph Otis Minott, the Executive Director and Chief Counsel of Clean Air Council. “This cap-and-trade program gives Governor Wolf and the Department of Environmental Protection the opportunity to create strong economic incentives for companies to find cost-effective ways to make our planet healthier for future generations.”

“We all want our children and grandchildren to have a secure and happy life. The disruption of our climate caused by greenhouse gas pollution poses an existential threat to that future,” said lead petitioner, attorney Robert B. McKinstry, Jr. “The proposed regulation will achieve the emissions reductions that the latest scientific reports conclude are necessary to avoid the very worst effects of climate disruption.”

About Clean Air Council

Clean Air Council is a member-supported, non-profit environmental organization dedicated to protecting everyone’s right to breathe clean air. The Council is headquartered in Philadelphia and works through public education, community organizing, advocacy, and government oversight to ensure enforcement of environmental laws. For more information, please visit www.cleanair.org.

About Widener University Commonwealth Law School Environmental Law and Sustainability Center

The Center explores the ways that law can be used to address such issues as environmental rights and protection of the land, air, and water for future generations. At all levels of governance, Center faculty have proposed and advocated reforms to environmental laws and evaluated the effectiveness of these laws.  

Mr. McKinstry, Mr. Minott and Professor Dernbach will discuss the law and policy underlying the petition and the regulation and address questions at a conference sponsored by the Philadelphia Bar Association, A Call to the Bar: Lawyers for Common Sense on Climate Change, and the Pennsylvania Environmental Council at noon on Wednesday, February 28 at the Bar Association Building. For a description of the conference and a link to registration, see https://www.calltothebar.org/using-the-law-to-solve-climate-change-what-can-pennsylvania-do/.