Clean Air Council Responds to Bills That Would Block the Governor’s Efforts to Curb Climate Pollution

Philadelphia, PA (November 19, 2019) Today, Republican legislators introduced two new bills, HB 2025 and SB 950, that would strip the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) of its existing authority to control air pollution and block Governor Tom Wolf’s efforts to have Pennsylvania share in the benefits of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI).

Joseph Otis Minott, Esq., Executive Director and Chief Counsel of Clean Air Council, issued the following statement:

“The Wolf administration has clear and considerable authority under existing law to establish a Pennsylvania program to control air pollution from power plants. Linking Pennsylvania’s program with the other independent state programs in RGGI will help lower compliance costs and provide flexibility to regulated entities as part of a larger marketplace. It is deliberately and willfully misleading to describe this approach as a ‘tax.’  Indeed, the legislation announced today would strip DEP of its existing authority to control dangerous air pollution. The General Assembly can play an important role in this process, but attacks grounded in bad faith are not what the residents of Pennsylvania deserve.”