Clean Air Council’s Attorneys Defend Pennsylvania’s Move To Link With The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative At A Recent Hearing
Pennsylvania’s biggest step forward to fight the climate crisis showed up for its court hearing on Tuesday, May 10–and Clean Air Council attorneys were there to defend it
Harrisburg, PA (May 20, 2022) On April 23, 2022, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) published a long-awaited rule that will put a price on carbon pollution and enable the Commonwealth to participate in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. RGGI, as it’s known (pronounced “Reggie”), is a cap-and-invest program for power plant pollution that all Northeastern states from Virginia on up through Maine participate in. Before April 23rd, Pennsylvania had been a glaring hole in the middle of the regional marketplace. The program works by requiring fossil-fuel-fired power plants (with 25 megawatts or greater capacity) to obtain allowances for every ton of carbon dioxide they spew into the atmosphere. These allowances are sold at quarterly auctions and can be traded on a secondary marketplace. Over time, the supply of allowances decreases, driving down power plant pollution that is harmful to human health, and lowering the amounts of greenhouse gasses that are pumped into the air. Every ton of CO2 avoided will reduce the odds of truly catastrophic climate change impacts, and people will breathe cleaner air as a result. And what’s more, the money from the auctions will be deposited in a special, segregated account known as the Clean Air Fund, which DEP must administer in the use of further eliminating air pollution.
RGGI is a win-win-win for the public. But, unsurprisingly, the coal industry and a group of politicians in Harrisburg have gone to court to block Pennsylvania from moving forward with RGGI. All of the challengers have asked the Commonwealth Court to issue an order enjoining (or stopping) the RGGI rule from taking effect while their challenges are pending before the court. Every day that Pennsylvania families and communities are subject to virtually unrestricted power plant pollution, the climate gets more hazardous and the quality of the air we breathe suffers. The court scheduled a two-day hearing for May 10-11 in Harrisburg to hear evidence on whether to put a hold on the RGGI rule.
Shortly before the hearing, Clean Air Council asked the court to be allowed to intervene as a party. The court allowed the Council and its allied organizations–PennFuture, Sierra Club, Environmental Defense Fund, and Natural Resources Defense Council–to participate in the hearing but held off on deciding whether we would be full participants during the rest of the case. Over the course of two days, we put on witnesses who gave powerful testimony about the adverse effects of air pollution from power plants on human health and the public interest. The politicians offered the testimony of Senator Gene Yaw – a loud and vocal opponent of RGGI – and the coal industry offered up a power plant executive who argued that RGGI would cut into his plants’ profits.
At the end of the hearing, the judge set a schedule for the parties to submit written briefs for their sides. While we don’t yet know how the court will rule, much is at stake. The new Pennsylvania RGGI rule is the most important effort the state has undertaken to lower greenhouse gas emissions. It is not enough, but it is a critical first step. Clean Air Council will not stand aside as the coal industry and out-of-touch politicians hold our lungs and our lives hostage.
For more information contact Alex Bomstein, Director of Litigation, abomstein@cleanair.org.
