Clean Air Council Denounces Committee Vote on HB 2025

Harrisburg, PA (June 9, 2020) Today, the Pennsylvania House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee narrowly reported out House Bill 2025 (Struzzi-R-Indiana), which 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 participate in 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. Pennsylvania’s program to participate in RGGI would offer polluters a choice: reduce carbon emissions or purchase an allowance for your pollution. Purchasing an allowance confers a valuable, tradeable commodity, giving the holder the privilege to pollute. It is deliberately and willfully misleading to describe this approach as a ‘tax.’ Indeed, the legislation advanced 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 misleading attacks are not what the residents of Pennsylvania deserve.”

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