Virginia lawmakers have advanced legislation to withdraw the state from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI).
In a party-line vote — with six Republicans voting in favor and four Democrats in opposition — a House of Delegates subcommittee of the Agriculture, Chesapeake, and Natural Resources Committee backed the proposal, HB 1301.
If the bill clears the legislature, it would task the director of the state Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) to take steps to exit the regional cap-and-trade program. The bill was referred to the House Appropriations Committee for further consideration.
The legislation would repeal the Clean Energy and Community Flood Preparedness Act, which directed the state to join RGGI and was signed into law by former governor Ralph Northam (D) in 2020.
House Majority Leader Terry Kilgore (R), who introduced HB 1301, said RGGI "doesn't effectively reduce carbon emissions. It results in rate hikes to Virginia families, and it limits our ability as Virginians to find free market solutions that actually work."
When Virginia started participating in RGGI in 2021, the state accounted for 23pc of the program's 119.8mn short ton CO2 budget. Revenue generated from the program — which amounted to $227.6mn last year — is used by the state for low-income energy efficiency programs and flood mitigation.
Governor Glenn Youngkin (R), who took office last month, has pursued both regulatory and legislative strategies to exit the cap-and-trade program. Youngkin issued an executive order his first day in office that directs the DEQ to re-evaluate the costs and benefits of participation in RGGI and to develop an emergency regulation to repeal the framework of the program. Youngkin also proposed amendments to the state's 2020-22 and 2022-24 budgets that would stop Virginia's participation in RGGI allowance auctions and halt any enforcement of the state's CO2 trading regulations.
But Youngkin's efforts have been stymied by legal constraints and resistance from Democratic lawmakers. Prior to taking office, outgoing attorney general Mark Herring (D) issued an opinion that the governor lacks the authority to exit RGGI through executive action alone, complicating Youngkin's push for a quick exit.
"The governor is withdrawing Virginia via executive action, but he's also pursuing legislation to make sure future governors cannot unilaterally put Virginia back into this failed and expensive program," the governor's office said.
The state Senate, which remains controlled by Democrats, has also made its resistance to Youngkin's environmental plans known. In a party-line vote today, the senate rejected Youngkin's nomination of former US Environmental Protection Agency administrator Andrew Wheeler to be secretary of Natural and Historic Resources. The secretary oversees several environmental agencies, including the DEQ.
A companion bill to HB 1301 was introduced in the Senate and is pending before the Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources Committee.
